Strange Tidings
by deepcauldron
Summary: On his 14th birthday, Luke comes to Inkopolis as a gift. While there on his first day suddenly gets swept into a spiral of chaos. Not to mention a lot of mysteries; rumors of an inkling witch, odd files, and weird dreams. Not to mention a strange girl who seems to have him in her sights. All the answers to it all are veiled from plain sight...*Rating may change to M later in story*
1. Prologue: The Trip to Inkopolis

Prologue: The Trip to Inkopolis

**Warning* Data may have been compromised or corrupted.*

Log 1:

Su_ject: Pro_ct: Chime_

Date:_23,_

_:Sp_ice_

Prog_ss has begun. _sting of normal co_ati_ s_lls has started. My d_er has been

_o_en on _ 14th birth_ to be one of the t_t su_ for Pr_ Chime_. With o_

levels ri_, _ and the _er t_ee will be _r last hope as our _ies will soon _e o_t

from the ri_g sea lev_. To c_r our fate, we have sele_ 4 _n to be t_ed

on for s_cing. We are hoping to m_ a h_d that is com_ble with s_g

bo_ sea and land.

The Director made it clear that they would need to be able to su_ them_es on land

should the occ_ion arise that land is not com_ly de_ed by the _ and they will need to

s_ive on land. We only have until the end of this year to finish or we will all _ to

_ion.

Pr_sor Raz_ Dra_.

 **On the Train to Inkopolis...**

It was her first day in Inkopolis. Her arms stretched out as she rose from her seat and

gathered her belongings and headed off the train into the sun. She walked into the plaza

taking in the sights around her. Many things about the plaza were remarkable but what she

was really looking for was-

"Yo, sis!"

She turned her head suddenly when she heard a familiar voice talking to her. She closed her

eyes and allowed her sister's embrace to be the only thing she sensed. Her sister then

lowered her head to her ear.

"Ready to shake the foundations?"

She opened her eyes looking skyward to the tower. Her eyes glowing like a cat.

"Tch...don't you know?" She questioned back confidently, "I was born ready."

* * *

 **A/N: Okay so my desktop is so screwed up my Skylanders Fanfic is gonna be put on hold until I can get everything back up and running with it. In other news this Prologue is way longer than Light and Dark's. If you have read the other fanfic, I think you can see a small theme n how I like to write my Prologues. Should I have crappy luck as well as a busy schedule, the next chapter will be difficult to put up. Best case scenario it'll be put up tommarow.**


	2. Chapter 1: 14th Birthday

Chapter 1: 14th Birthday

Luke woke up with a start. He jolted upwards from his sprawled position on half of the bed and worked himself over to the mirror to see if it had happened.

Only to see that he still looked rather gelatinous.

With a sigh, he looked himself over. His blue skin had showed signs of looking a humanoid tone but it seemed to just have vanished over the night. He went out of his room, down the steps with his head down, crestfallen.

"What's wrong Dear?"

The sound of his mother's voice made Luke jolt his head in her direction. She was a tall, slim young woman with pale skin. Her sapphire eyes looked worried for her son.

"Oh! Mom... I-I didn't know you were up yet." he stammered. He slowly walked over to the bar and sat down on the the stool, his head followed and he huffed in disappointment.

They stayed in awkward silence for half a minute.

"Soooo..." Luke's Mother began, "Are you gonna tell me why you look like you lost your best friend?"

"It hasn't happened yet mom!" Luke blurted out, "I don't know why! I don't know how I'm gonna change into my humanoid form I-it's n-not-!"

His mother came around the wall and came over to comfort her sobbing child. As she embraced him, she noticed two things: Luke had seemed a bit taller than when she initially hugged him and the texture of his skin was changing. She grinned widely and began to stand up to look at her precious child. Luke looked his mother's giddy look and stared at her confused.

"Mom?" Luke looked around before looking back at her, "Why, are you staring like that?"

Then the thought occurred, and he looked down at his tenta- no his _hands_.

He stumbled towards the downstairs bathroom. When he got there, he looked at himself in the mirror and gasped at his new form. He retained his deep blue eyes and the pony-tailed, blue tentacles on top of his head, but he now had tan skin like his father. He smiled to see that his upper beak had split into what now resembled fangs. His lower beak, much to his suprise, stayed the same. He looked down at his legs and saw they looked more defined than yesterday. He was about to take his pajamas off the examine himself more when he noticed both his mother and father looking at him.

His father was very toned and he aspired to get muscular like his father. Besides his father's muscular frame, he was tan like him with a turquoise ponytail and green eyes.

"You know you look just like your father we he was your age?" said his mother.

Luke's blue eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Eh... your still a bit pudgy but yeah, really." Luke's dad joked, his eyes having an amused green light flickering in them.

Luke stuck his tongue out at his father in a weak attempt to feign annoyance with his father and they all chuckled.

"Alright you two, I'm going to get breakfast started now." Luke's mom leaned down, kissed him on his forehead and winked at him. "For our birthday boy, I'll make something special: blueberry waffles in confetti syrup."

Luke smiled at his mother before going in for a hug," Thanks mom, your awesome."

His mother returned the hug. After Luke let go his father said, "We have a suprise for you." Luke turned to him and began to ask what it was only for his father to stop him

"However!" he paused, "First you have to eat and get dressed."

"Okay!"

With that he ran as fast as he could, which wasn't all that fast as he still was adjusting to his legs and stumbled a bit, up to and onto the steps.

Only for the twins to flop right into him. He fell back first down to the, fortunately soft-carpeted floor, below.

"Hiya hiya big bro!" chirped his younger brother Faust, who had dad's colors as well his own rite of passage tentacle tie. His eyes were unique as they were two different colors. One was blue but the other one was very dark, almost black.

"Happy buffday big bwotha" chimed Faustine, Faust's female counterpart, who was more blue than turquoise in comparison to Faust. Like Faust,she was heterochromatic but instead of blue and dark grey she had brown and blue. They were very much younger than Luke, they had just started walking albeit in a shambling manner.

"Hey Fau-faus." he said with a strained voice to the twins. "Thanks for the happy wishes and all but could you get off please?"

"Sowwy"

With that said, the twins slinked off towards breakfast. Luke sighed, he love the twins but they were beginning to pack in the pounds.

Continuing up the the steps, he went into his bleak looking bedroom. He had some collectables here and there but that's all. He gathered up the clothes he was going to wear today and went into the bathroom to wash.

Inklings couldn't bathe in pure water since they'd dissolve in an instant. Instead they cleaned themselves in water diluted ink. It was just enough to clean off the grim of the day without completely dissolving an inkling's body.

After cleansing himself, Luke put on his clothes he selected and headed down to join his family for breakfast.

/ \

After breakfast, Luke washed his plate and cup of the remnants of his dish, sat back down and stared at his parents. The twins looked on in curiosity at the atmosphere in the room.

"So, the surprise. What is it exactly?" Luke asked shifting his eyes between his mother and father expectantly.

"Pack your bags up Luke, you staying with your sister for the next week." his father said, and immediately and blatantly searched for a reaction.

Luke eyes widened hearing those words and he felt an overwhelming sensation of joy, surprise, and intimidation at once.

All that came out of him was a squeak.

His father chuckled and continued, "Both me and your mom believe it to be a good experience, what with her being so close to Inkopolis Plaza and rising star at turf wars."

"You'll also be able to participate in turf wars yourself while you're there and get your own ink weapons." his mom added on.

Luke rushed around the table to hug them both in quick but tight hugs. "Thank you so much!" he exclaimed, tears welling up with emotion.

"We don't want to miss your rendezvous with your sister, so pack up all the things your taking with you so we can take you to the station." his mom told him.

His mother notice Luke had replaced his smiling face with another surprised look, this one less than happy.

" You're not coming with me?" He said, his eyes looked up at her with some form of nervousness.

"No," Luke sagged his shoulders in disappointment. "Hear me out, Luke your old enough to be able to take care yourself now and the experience isn't the same with your parents around." she looked up at the ceiling recalling memories. "Anyways, Felicia is reliable and I know she won't put you in..." Her pauseing made Luke even more nervous than he was already. "Unnessacery danger." she grinned, hoping to sell her point.

'Oh is that all? OK see you at my funeral tomorrow then.' he thought.

"Besides that, we want you to make friends sweetheart. You've barely made any here and we're hoping this trip will bring you out of your shell." she explained.

Luke simply sighed and headed up stairs to pack his things.

"Big bwo gonna be okay mama?" Faust asked, sad at how his bigger brother reacted towards end of the whole thing. His mother turned to see him hugging her and looking for reassurance.

"He'll be just fine Faust," she said reassuringly to him. "He just needs a couple of minutes to know how to take it."


	3. Chapter 2: All Joy

Chapter 2: All Joy

"How could they leave me to fend for myself like this!" Luke ranted as he pack up his necessities. "Felicia!? Responsible!? That's the biggest joke I've heard in a while!"

Luke didn't really think of his dear older sister as something awful as reckless but she did have the tendency to look for trouble. How she didn't ended up dead or arrested with some of the antics she's pulled, he would never know.

Luke breathed inhaled before falling onto his bed, exhaling on the way down. A though came to Luke.'She doesn't really visit though. Maybe...maybe she did change.' He shifted towards the nightstand and grabbed the photo of their family. His sister's teal tentacles hugging a younger him and the twins.

Putting the photo back, he continued to pack, leaving himself in thought all the while.

'Who knows maybe I will make friends too.' A warm feeling came over him at the thought.

/ \

After packing up he met up with his family at the door. "I'm ready" he said with a renewed smile on his face.

The walk to the station was pretty uneventful. They talked about turf wars, how his parents felt and what they did during those days. They also talked about how they met each other on opposing teams and how his dad was certainly quite the charmer at his age, much to Luke's and the twins disgust.

At the station, the family sat on one of the benches, waiting for the train to arrive.

The train station was virtually empty for the majority of the time they were there. Only two other families were there but they were small groups of three in comparison to him and his two siblings.

One family had a boy with yellow tentacles who was really dark-skinned and glasses. He seemed to be taking a nap.

The other family had a girl who was slightly lighter in skin tone than himself. She had brown eyes and long pink tentacles that ended at her hips. When she realized she was being watched, she smiled enthusiastically and waved at him. He shyly waved back with a coy smile of his own.

He then looked at his father, who was digging in his pocket.

"Here you go son, a little something to get you started." his father fished out 100 coins and placed them in Luke's hands.

After putting the coins into his pocket he gave his dad a hug "Thank you!" he exclaimed. Even if Felicia were to ditch him, whether on purpose or accidently, he at least had money to purchase some food.

"Honey, your train's here now." his mother softly stated, breaking him out of the hug he gave his father.

Luke gave his mother and two siblings a quick hug before going on with the other inklings

"Bye everyone!" he yelled to them over his shoulder waving his goodbye, "I'll be sure to something back for you all!"

As he step aboard the train, his eyes and widened in awe. There were and array of inklings and various colors of eyes, skin, and tentacles. He put his bags under his seat and turned to look out at his family. Soon the train lurched into motion and his family faded from view.

"Hiya!"

Luke spun suddenly only to see the pink tentacled inkling from the station inches from his face.

"Uh... hello." Luke tried to scoot deeper into his chair, but found there wasn't the room to do that so he settled for a polite little smile at the girl.

"Name's Nova!" She took Luke's hand and gave him a firm handshake. "Nova Aljoy, what's you name?"

"Oh! Uh... um... i-i-it's Luke." he stuttered, looking away and blushing a bit, "Luke Vernon."

"Nice to meet'cha Luke! So what'cha goin' to Inkopolis for? Turf Wars? Splat Zones? Tower Control? Maybe just to get some clothes or maybe..." Nova threw Luke a more suggestive glance and waggled her eyebrows, "meet a giirrrll~?"

The way Nova crooned the word 'girl' made him cringe and blush even harder.

"Uh- n-no! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!" Luke blurted out trying to clear any thoughts like that out his head. He suddenly felt himself turn into his squid form and when he realized what happened, he tried to change back.

The key word being _tried._

"Augh, great I can't change back..." he squeaked out of his beak.

"Oh, you don't know how to change huh?" Nova broke out into a huge grin. "Don't worry, just listen of everything I say and you'll be fine!"

"You know, your enthusiasm astounds me sometimes...OK, you have my undivided attention."

Nova only grinned wider, which Luke found it hard to believe was even possible. "OK! First close your eyes."

Luke hesitantly did so.

"Next, think of becoming a kid, think of having each and every part of your body become solid and structured." He relaxed to Nova's voice which had switch from peppy and hyperactive to a more dulcet and lulling tone."Think about yourself growing bigger and taller, of your fingers growing on each hand and your toes growing on each foot. Think of your skin becoming tougher and stronger and your nose coming from your face."

Luke had imagined all of this, and as he did so, he felt the shifting of his body until it stopped suddenly.

"Alright, you can open your eyes now."

Luke open his eyes to see Nova had disappeared from in front of him, only for him to notice her sitting to his right, turned to him with a more relaxed smile. He also realized some of the other passengers were staring at them for a second before continuing with their business.

"See? Simple isn't it?" Nova tone was now balanced between sedated and explosive. "Keep doing that whenever you need to change from your squid form inkling form and eventually it'll become natural."

Luke gave her a smile. She seemed like a good person to be friends with.

"Hey Nova."

"Yeah?"

"Could you and I be friends?"

Nova tilted her head in confusion, "But aren't we already friends?"

"Wha-?" Luke was genuinely surprised. Did she trust him to be a friend to her already?

Not wanting to bring up the issue he had with it or be rude to her he simply nodded.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Luke just realized what she said earlier.

"Wait, how did you know I was going to Inkopolis."

This time Nova was the one with shock. "Holy mackerel! That was quite the delayed reaction. You only just realized I said that?" Luke confirmed it with a nod.

"Wow. Anyway to answer you question I knew because all inklings who are at least 14 and the older ones who can still keep up get on here by themselves and their teams so they can play and hang at the plaza." She moved her head so she was laying it back onto the window.

"So you're in your own Splatoon?"

"Huh? Oh, no! I only know because I had to go to the plaza one time to drop something off from my father to one of the store owners a few days ago. I've never even held a Splattershot Jr.!" she quickly stated, curling one of her tentacles with her hands, seeming some degree of embarrased. "This'll be my first Turf war today."

"Oh..." Luke felt a little disappointed but opted to be supportive. "Well that's OK. We'll figure it out together!"

She started to do that wide grin of hers again. "Thanks! And who knows maybe we'll make more friends when we get there!"

Luke felt a nervousness creeping into him about that happening, but all the same he felt anticipation for the future ahead of him.

Luke had a feeling the next question that popped in his head might be the start of what felt close to a rollercoaster of dominos collapsing over the span of eternity. Luke pushed the feeling away and asked.

"So what all do you know about the different Splatoons? I mean I imagined you saw a few."

Nova seemed to stiffen a bit, and her smile faded. Luke wasn't sure of the reason why, but had a feeling he would know soon.

"Not really, but..." Her eyes looked downward. "There's one team that's gotten a good streak recently." Luke looked her over to see if she wasn't feeling good. "They're called the Death's Tide Splatoon."

Both of them shuddered at the name. The whole train's buzz seemed to have completely died at the name. Everyone in the car looked at them for the split second the team's named was uttered before everyone were talking around them in whispers.

"That's not all of it though." Luke raised a brow at her. "There are rumors about the leader, Aeolia Ames."

"Aeolia..." Luke repeated. He liked that name a lot. It didn't seem like the name of someone mean let alone vicious.

"They say she's some sort witch."

At that Luke looked at her in half disbelief, half surprise. "What?! How?!"

"They say she uses hexes on her opponents to help her win, that she can shapeshift into any inkling she wants to and you'll never be the wiser, and that she charms boys into doing her bidding."

Luke found the courage to ask, "Is it true?"

Nova scoffed "Nah, it can't be. Besides their just rumors meaning that people probably made it up to give the team a bad rep." She smiled weaker than she had been during there trip. "Still, I can't help but feel that that type of stuff is eerie enough not to be show some fright from it."

At this Luke simply exhaled. "You can tell a scary tale, you have a talent at storytelling."

"Thanks Luke!" she smiled at full strength again. She leaned back, crossed her legs and put her hands behind her head. "Who knows, maybe I'll make my own book."

Luke began to yawn. "Hey Nova?" Luke asked, "Could you wake me up when we get there?"

"Sure Luke."

"Thanks." With that he drifted into sleep.

/ \

"Luke...Luuuke...Luke..."

Luke found himself awoke in a new environment completely. He was still in inkling form.

More importantly he noticed he was floating in water. He floated in it without dissolving or feeling any pain.

In fact, he felt at peace. The water was cool and soothing on his skin. He noted that the water submerged every part of his body except for his face.

He looked around more, he noted that he couldn't move much and he seemed to be in a stream within a swamp. From what he could make out, he was moving on the current towards a humongous tree.

"Luke..."

Was it calling him?

"Luke! Yo Luke, we're here!"

Nova's voice jarred Luke out of his dream. He looked around to see what was what and who was who.

"Wow, you slept well! Nova tilted her head around him. You must have had a good dream 'cause it was hell wakin' you up!"

"Sorry about that." Luke apologized while he grabbed his baggage from under his seat.

"So what'cha dream about?" Nova asked.

Apparently, she didn't want to let the fact he'd been dreaming go. It weird and trippy even for her, he was sure of it, so he lied "I can't really remember what it was about." They started to leave the train.

"Awwwww... I missed somethin' good I bet, 'cause you really seemed to be napping good." She pouted for a bit then looked at him with a big, sad, googly-eyed look. "You sure?"

Luke sighed, she knew how to make a person give up their secrets. Apparently she's THAT one person who love to guilt trip others. He would make a note of that later, but for now it was effective and he spilled the beans.

"Alright you win." Luke told her about what he saw during his dream. Nova did the unexpected and listened with a rather straight face.

After the story she said, "Maybe it was some sort of prophetic interpretation of the future or a peek into who you are?"

Luke chuckled at that, "What are you some kind of physic?" Nova laughed with him.

"You guys just gonna keep standing there, or you gonna introduce your lady friend?"

That voice belong to Felicia! Where-

"Over here Lu-lu."

Luke turned around to see his sister leaning on the wall.

"Sis!" He ran up to her and gave her a hug.

"How've ya been champ? Still inking the bed in your sleep?"

An angry-embarrassed blush showed up on his face. "Shut up."

His sister looked him over. "My my... you're looking like dad in his old photos of him as a kid."

she felt around his waist and arms for a bit. "But... you're inevitably gonna look more like mom than dad."

"Thanks for that..." Luke said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Felicia replied smiling mad.

Nova walked over, smiled of equal madness, and folded her arms. "Introductions are necessary don't 'cha think?"

While they were walking to the plaza, Luke introduced the two girls to each other. While they were getting to know each other Luke sized up Felicia himself. She had definitely gotten taller over the years. Her teal tentacles were thigh length and she was wearing a teal hat with a squid pattern on it, a mountain vest with a light blue, long-sleeved, checkered shirt underneath and some red work boots on. She also had a bag that had its strings entangled in her right fist.

Entering the gate to the plaza, Luke looked up and around in amazement. The first thing he noticed was the huge tower piercing the sky, it had a large catfish of some sort curled around its center. The next thing he notice was the giant screen on the outside of a building that he soon realized was the studio of the popular pop idols, The Squid Sisters. Then there was the wave of color on the scene; there were even more varieties of color than on the train he took to get here.

A jingle played out into the plaza and all eyes turned to look at the giant screen. The Squid Sisters were broadcasting the news!

"Hold on to your tentacles..." said Callie, the long and black tentacled idol with a black and magenta colored outfit, with excitement in her voice.

"It's Inkopolis News time!" shouted Marie, the bobbed and white tentacled idol in black and green colors.

"Let's unveil the current regular battle stages!" announced Callie.

"All right!" pepped Marie.

The screen behind them revealed the first stage, Urchin Underpass. Luke could here a few celebrations as well as groaning in the plaza.

"Road trip! Any cuties out there wanna go for a ride?" Callie winked and Luke swore he heard some of the guys begin to swoon. He couldn't really make an argument against them though. He felt a heat on his cheeks as well when Callie winked at the captive audience.

"Let's use the airwaves responsibly, Callie" Marie sighed.

The screen then changed to the second stage, Arowana Mall.

Callie turned her head to Marie "Hey Marie, how would you tackle this stage?"she asked her sister.

Marie thought for a second, grinned then said "Float like a jellyfish, sting like a...jellyfish?" she thought about it while Callie started talking for the next segment of the news.

"And now, the current ranked battle stages!" Callie announced. "The rules for these stages are Splat Zones!"

"Splatastic!" Marie exclaimed.

The first stage that popped up was Saltspray Rig.

" "Just grab the high ground and it'll be an easy win!""Callie quoted, "...Is what amateurs say. Then they get splatted." Luke gulped, he hope he wouldn't get  
wreaked in a match because the way Callie had said that, it terrified him to say the least.

"But don't just stick to the low ground, either!" Marie quickly added in.

The final arena in rotation came up; the other ranked battles would be in Walleye Warehouse.

"So many containers...! I wonder what's inside them!" Callie questioned.

"Wouldn't it be rad if it was all Squid Sister merch?!" Marie replied to Callie.

Callie and Marie both looked directly into the camera.

"Until next time.." Callie started

"Staaaay fresh!" They said in unison before the both signed out and the screen went blank again.

"Were those the Squid Sisters?!" Luke asked.

"Yep, you bet!" Felicia said to Luke smiling hard. She seemed to be trying to keep her composure. Luke knew that wouldn't last long and she would sooner or latter let her excitement all out anyways.

"So since your both new here, I'll show you around first, then we'll pick up your Splattershot Jr.s from the weapons store, then I'll show you to a training course made for newbies, then I'll drag you around so I can pick up some new stuff and then we'll get your plaza card. Sound good?" Before Luke could answer Felicia began to take off. "Great!"

Nova and Luke looked at each other and chased after her.

Well Nova did.

Luke stopped when he noticed a dark skinned girl with pink tentacles and yellow eyes giving a sideways glance directly at him from under the ramp leading to the Squid Sister's Studio. He looked back at her and they were locked into each others gaze.

"Luke!"

Hearing Nova's voice, Luke turned around to see Nova and Felicia looking at him.

"C'mon slow poke." Felicia chided "We don't got all day!"

"Ok!" When Luke looked back to where the girl was, she had vanished.

Confused, he caught up with the girls and began his first day at Inkopolis.

* * *

 **Wow two chapters in and Luke already has a girlfriend(Well a girl that's a friend...anyways). Apparently I'm terribly at telling when I might be done with a chapter so I'll just stop doing that. I'm also glad I manage to get about double of chapter 1's length in here. I tried to get as much of the plot introduced as possible in this chapter and I think I got it all in there. Chapter 3 is where it's going to spice up though. I'll make sure of that.*Evil grin***


	4. Chapter 3: Touring The City

Chapter 3: Touring The City

In front of the tower, Luke and Nova listened to their tour guide through the plaza.

"So this tower is Inkopolis Tower. It's where all the amazink Turf Wars you see are organized. It's also where you guys are gonna get your plaza cards." Felicia pulled out a card that had her identification on it. "With these you'll be able to get stuff like weapons and clothes, they'll have your name and battle level and battle rank on them. They're actually not too important since their purpose is to show the shopkeepers your battle level and let you get access to more stuff. Nine times outta ten they'll hear about it from the speakers just outside the tower or inklings will mention your team with a bit of gossipin'" She rotated her head over to the building to her right and walk over to the nearest door. Luke and Nova followed suit.

"This is Booyah Base!" Felicia gestured at the building behind her. "All you need for Turf Wars will be here. Well you know besides experience." The shop we're in front of is Ammo Knights. It's where inklings get there ink weapons from. "The owner, Sheldon, is totally obsessed with his weapons but he's awesome at what he does."

They walked in front of the door with the pink sign over it. "This is the headgear shop, Cooler Heads. They range from the splatastic hat I'm wearing to simple stuff like that headband you two are wearing." She gestured nonchalantly at their headbands

Luke and Nova immediately looked over each others' headband as if they saw something wrong with it.

Their guide just rolled her eyes,"Anyways! Annie and Moe are the store owners here. While Annie's a real cool gal, I honestly wish she'd dump the swimming dinner."

Both Luke and Nova looked at her quizzically."What's wrong with him?" Luke asked.

Felicia gave a nervous laugh. "You'll find out soon enough."

That only worried poor Luke.

They walked to the front of the blue signed door,"Next is Jelly Fresh, the clothing store. Jelonzo's not from here so he has a bit of an accent not to mention he talk a bit funny, but he's a fresh dude. Once you're able to shop here, he'll help you pick a trendy wardrobe."

Nova bounced around gleefully "Great! I've been looking for new shirts to add to my closet!"

"Last but not least..." Felicia took them to the last door, which had a orange sign over it. "Crusty Sean's Shrimp Kicks,he's the prawn who'll sell ya the freshest style of shoes this side of Inkopolis."

"So... we can come over the shops to buy stuff for Turf Wars?" Luke inquired.

Felicia responded with an amused smirk."Once you're fresh enough to be consider a customer, then yes."

Felicia walk them up the ramp leading to the second floor of one building as well as a view of the Squid Sisters' studio. While they headed up the ramp, Luke took another glance around to see if could find the mystery girl who stared him down earlier up here.

"The Battle Dojo is perfect for sparing with a friend. Unlike Turf Wars the rules in the Battle Dojo are that you have to pop as many balloons as possible." Felicia sighed and walked towards the railing, slouching on it and looking out into the plaza. "It's the only thing me and my team do nowadays. We haven't done Turf Wars together as a team in weeks."

Luke stared at his sister with pity. She seemed upset about her team's recent breakup.

Nova seemed to read his mind because she asked, "What's keeping your team from joining back up together?"

Felicia gave a little chuckle before saying, "Don't worry, it's nothing permanent. Our leader said she had to take a break on family business." She then got up, turned towards her entourage, and pointed to the studio window. "Back to the tour, the Squid Sister's studio is adjacent to the Battle Dojo, where you can see some of their fans staring all starry- eyed at them."

They headed under the catwalk. Luke once again looking for the mystery girl as they walked. Nova noticed how distracted he was being. Before she could ask what was bothering him, she saw Luke visibly stiffen. Her eyes followed to where he looked and her body froze along with his. They saw an urchin on a carpet at the end of the alleyway, he had purple sclera and green irises. His skin was dark and his body rather thin, wearing a colorful poncho and braclets. The most eye catching thing was his black spines which were colored at the tips. They both finally tore their eyes away from the stranger, only to focus on what seem like rocks near his feet.

" S'appening Felicia, Wot can I do for you today love?" the stranger asked.

"Nothing today for me Spyke, just showing my brother and his friend around the plaza. It's their first day." Spyke's eyes shifted directly to Luke and Nova. They move behind Felicia in an attempt to hide.

Both Spyke and Felicia chuckled and the older sister stepped turned to them. "Don't worry you two, Spyke's not gonna bite."

Once some color came back to her face, Nova bravely and politely went up to Spyke to shake hands.

"Nice to meet you sir!" Nova said as they grasped each other's hand in greeting.

Spyke stifled another laugh. "Please love, jus' call me Spyke." he said. Nova nodded in acknowledgment. "Now love wot's your name?"

"The name's Nova. Nice to meet ya."

She then hopped her way over to Luke then whispered to him, "The guy doesn't seem too bad. Go on and introduce yourself."

With that, before Luke could even argue, he was launched of over to Spyke by a firm shove by Nova.

He sharply turned to Nova to glare at her, at the moment, triumphant smirk. He then turned to introduce himself,"H-h-hi, my n-name is L-l-luke." he could hear the audible sigh of his sister before she stepped over and shoved him out of the way, probably to cover up the fact that her brother was being awkward.

"Anyways Spyke now that we know my brother's a certifiable wimp," Luke began to stop being afraid of Spyke in favor of frown at Felicia, can you explain what you do here to my hopeless little brother and his friend, who is more than compensating for his pathetic attempt at introduction?" she all but smiled a little too much, even for her.

'What? Are you embarrassed now?' Luke thought at his sister, who had managed to irritate him at the moment.

Spyke thought for a moment at the request."Very well love. I s'ppose I owe you for that favor you did for me back then anyways." Felicia winked at him and Spyke went on with his explanation of his business.

"Once you're fresh enough you blokes can deal wif' me. If you see some other blokes wearin' some nice gear I can 'order' the same thing for you. It might not be the exact same thing if I can't find it but I'll make sure you at least get somethin' close. Once you get to your sis's level of freshness, I can help you more. Unless of course you bring me a tasty treat." He gestured to the crystalline shells around him. The younger inklings looked at them shivering in fear. Luke nearly gagged at the empty ones and the screwdriver when he put two and two together.

Felicia thanked Spyke and once they were out of the alley, she said "That concludes our tour. Any questions?"

No questions.

"Alright let's head over to Ammo Knights then."

As they were heading to the weapon's department in Booyah Base, Nova turned to Luke with a slight frown.

"Alright, spill it."

"Spill what?"

"You've been distracted ever since we got into the plaza so I want to know: What have you been looking at this whole time?"

"Why is that bothering you exactly?" Luke stared at her in slight agitation.

"I feel like it's important to keep me posted on things that you're doing around here, that's all visa-versa." Nova broke out into another one of her grins. "Besides, if we're gonna be teammates we gotta communicate."

Luke stared at her for a second and thought. 'Come to think of it, I haven't thought about making a team yet and Nova's been nothing but nice, even though I think me and her might have a few issues to work out.'

Finally, he made a decision. He nodded his head and held his hand out.

"OK then, let's make it official let's make a Splatoon!" Nova gave Luke a high five as they walked into the shop.

"Yo Sheldon!" Felicia shouted. The shopkeeper seemed nowhere to be found in the shop.

She was about to tell the younger Inklings to wait here until a short person with googles and what looked like a scout uniform came into the room from a back door, a giant paint roller in his hands. Luke saw that he was also wearing some kind of hat.

"Oh hello Felicia!" he said, putting the paint roller on a display rack. "How can I help you today?"

Felicia shook her head. "Nothin' for me Sheldon, we need some Splattershot Jr. for the rooks here."

Sheldon walked up to the pair and scrutinized them. Luke in particular caught his eyes.

"Another Vernon for the records?"

Felicia winked at him. "He needs some work, but I think he can manage."

"Hello my name is Luke." he said, properly introducing himself and astonishing both Felicia and Nova in one fell swoop. "Please to meet you."

"Likewise, my name is Sheldon." he shook Luke's and turned to Nova. "And what's your name?"

"Nova Aljoy, pleased to meet you." He shook her hand as well.

When Sheldon had went to shake Nova's hand, he realized that Sheldon's hat was more of a helmet.

"You're a Horseshoe Crab aren't you?"

"Why yes, I am!" Sheldon smiled. He was now making his way over to a weapons rack and plucked two shooter-like weapons from the arms.

"Here you two go! Take care of my children, I know you'll give them a good home!"

With that, Felicia took them to the training area.

/ \

Luke fumbled with the tank his sister gave him. "Where did you get these exactly?" he asked.

Felicia gave him an indifferent look, "Does it matter?" The fact that he had to think about his answer was more than enough reason to earn retort from her. "Didn't think so."

His sister had brought them to one of the various alleyways that ran throughout Inkopolis to practice. Felicia came over to Luke with a pair of scissors. "I need you to hold still."

Luke did as he was told. His sister began cutting a small hole in his Basic Tee between his shoulders, exposing the hole that was connected to his ink sac. She asked him to move his arm so she could put on the tank on, which he had complied with.

"Ok this part might feel a bit weird." He was going to ask what she meant when he felt something cold being inserted into the orifice of his ink sac. He shuddered at the sensation of having it plugged up.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it being in there once you start moving." She then went to help Nova, who was taken below the steps for a bit of privacy from him. Nova squeaked in surprise, presumably due to having a siphon made to be siphoning her siphon (heh) inserted between the shoulders. They walked back up, all good to go.

"Ok, brb." with that she went behind the corner herself only to come back out fully equipped, Splattershot Jr. and everything.

Next she taught them where the weapon's tube had to be connected and how to fire their weapons. Before things got interesting.

"You connect this..." she held the connector tube of her Splattershot Jr. "To here." and pointed where the tube connected to the tank.

Both Luke and Nova were prepped and Felicia was ready to give them a speech.

"Ok! You wanna be the freshest squids on the block?" The two rookies nodded. "Then you've got a long way to go! Now let's go over the basics of Ink Battling!"

A strange, intimidating look was suddenly in her eye. "Ok, so you just hold it like so..." she held her weapon in her hands, her right hand on the handle with her index finger hovering from the trigger and her other hand holding the barrel. "Then, you just shoot." She swiveled behind herself, pulled the trigger and fired in a straight line in front of her. "OK you try, aim at these balloons behind me."

Just before the two students could aim at their first target, they heard Felicia say "To make things more interesting, catch me if you can~!" before Luke could ask what she meant, Felicia had dashed towards him, jumping on his shoulders and leaping off quickly, disorienting him, and had snatched Luke's baggage that he sat down before getting started with training.

"You want this back? Then come and get it Lu-Lu!"

Luke could only stare in astonishment at his sister when he righted himself. When did she get so flexible?

Nova reacted first, she tried to splat Felicia but she simply flipped off the wall and went over them, changing into squid form and landing into the ink trail she sprayed earlier and speeding off and phasing through the fence.

"C'mon! Let's go!" Nova yelled to Luke as she ran after his sister, popping balloons as she went. Luke eventually snapped out of his stupor and followed.

Tumbling after Nova, Luke noticed his sister running through what looked like a skatepark of sorts. She stopped in the center.

"C'mon you two can do better than that can't you?" the older inkling taunted. Nova turned to Luke who had finally caught up with her.

"Alright," she hissed, "We'll flank her. We'll go on each side where the balloons are and then swim in our ink to get her from behind." Luke nodded took the closer side and waited for Nova take her position.

Once she was in position they blasted the balloons on their sides slowly advancing to blast the second balloon on their paths.

"Oh going for the balloons instead?" Felicia continued, "You can do that but you won't be able to catch me that way." She lifted up the bag containing Luke's belongings.

'Wait until you get the other balloon Luke, she's just baiting you.' He focused on trying to burst the second balloon.

Nova got hers first and began to ink a line of pink ink to keep Felicia sectioned off. She sped in front of Felicia and stood between her and the exit.

"Clever plan." She told Nova. Luke had finished with the second balloon when he saw them face off. He caught a glint of mischief in his sister's eyes. He readied himself and got into a better position.

Felicia sprinted and lifted her Splattershot Jr. Nova mirrored and anchored herself to the ground, bracing herself.

With a grin, Felicia made a path for herself and sped off as a squid, Nova missing her shots as she trailed her ink behind Felicia's teal.

Luke jumped out of his position, his Splattershot Jr. pointed at the squid form of his sister. "Don't think so sis!" he shouted and pulled the trigger.

"Nyah!"

A traveling spot of his darker blue ink was moving. He definitely hit her.

"Good shot!" Nova praised him and the both chased after her.

Felicia changed back to humanoid form to shoot up the walls above her. She leapt on them in squid form and scaled both walls. They followed suit.

Felicia was up on a higher platform when they reached the top, a small bit of blue ink noticeable on her right calf.

"Wow you guys are terrible at this. Maybe you all should just give up and go home. Especially you Lu-Lu."

Luke shot at his sister but she dashed off deeper into the course.

"Let's go Luke, we can use this." Nova pointed in the direction of the ramp that had teal ink on it. She then climbed up the steps and inked the top platform completely, getting the balloons as well. She got a swmming start before clearing the gap "C'mon Luke! Get a move on." before disappearing behind the wall.

"W-wait! Nova!" Luke made a simple line on the platform and leapt onto the raised platform just barely. When he turned the corner he saw Nova staring from a precipice. "Nova?" he walked slowly up to her. Luke looked out at what she saw with his mouth agape: A crashed UFO among a sea of violet ink.

"Luke...?" Nova asked fear coming into her voice and her eyes glued to the scene before her.

"Yeah?" he answered back, more in awe then fear.

"What do you think crashed that thing?"

"I don't know but I certainly don't want to find out." his body chilled instinctively,'I'm going to have a word with Felicia...something's wrong here and I want find out what.'

"C'mon let's not keep my sis waiting." Luke told her. He inked the floor below and dropped down, running around the UFO to see his sister waiting for them in front of some crates.

"Ugh, great!" he turned to see Nova stuck in some of the violet ink that was already there. She blasted her way out and come out at Luke's side.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me..."

Luke turned his attention back to Felicia only to feel something hit his shoes and he felt stuck in place. "Felicia, Wha-" he was stopped by her firing at Nova's feet gluing her in place beside him.

"Shhh... Now where was I?" She paced to and fro. Nova took her Splattershot Jr. and aimed at her feet.

And was immediately at the inking end of Felicia's own Splattershot Jr.

"Now now, be good students and listen to your teacher..." Felicia gave them a creepy, threatening grin, "Otherwise I may have to get violent."

Nova lowered her Splattershot Jr. slowly. Luke stared at both Felicia's apparent demented behavior and Nova's compliance in shock. 'Is she serious?!'

Felicia demeanor calmed down. "Now where was I?" Her faced sparked with remembrance. "Oh yeah! Now I remember, You also have bombs that come along with that Splattershot Jr." she showed them the pyramid shaped bombs connected to the side of the tank. She tossed one at the crates. "Now let the chase continue."

Almost simultaneously, the bomb went off, destroying the crates.

Luke was getting angry now and as she began climbing, he splatted his feet free and went after her.

"Luke! Wait up!" Nova called after him, splatting her own two feet free and following them up.

When Nova caught up, Luke was staring down his sister, who had her back turned to them.

"Well then I guess I'm caught..." her voice was level. Luke squinted his eyes at her, she was controlling the tone of her voice, he realized she was holding back emotion by the slight way she quivered, a skill he picked up from living with his siblings. "Congratulations! You made it through!" she said turning to them, smiling and clapping for them.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT BACK THERE?!" Luke screamed at Felicia. Was that all a trick?

"Whoa there Luke don't bust a vein." she laughed out. "I was just acting, you know I wouldn't hurt you, just showing a little drama." He turned his back to her and crossed his arms, pouting all the while. "Aww... does Lu-Lu need a hug?"

Before he could do anything, Felicia thrusted herself on him. He squirmed like a mouse trying to get out of the grip of a cat and she only tightened her hug squeezing the air out of him.

"Ok! Ok! I forgive you! Just! Stop! Hugging!" she immediately let go dropping him on the ground, satisfied. Nova was now stand besides him giggling.

Luke began to blush in embarrassment, "Can you stop giggling and help me up?" he muttered in annoyance.

Nova nodded and offered her hand, which he took. With a firm pull, the blue inkling was on his feet.

"Ok, now to get out of here," Felicia pointed at the bubbling pool of teal ink. "Just turn the Launchpad your color by shooting some of your ink in it, then just launch yourself."

"And how do we do that exactly?" Luke asked in a still annoyed voice.

"You'll figure it out, in fact how about you go first Lu-Lu just to make up for the oh-so-scary trick on you." she began to chuckle evilly.

'I know this is a trap, but I might as well since she'll force me in there anyways.'

"Ok, fine." he decided to say to her, shooting at the Launchpad until it was blue."But nothing better go wrong."

Changing into squid form, he slipped into the bubbling puddle and the rest was just cause and effect from there.

The sensation of the ink bubbling into his siphon made him scrunch his body up at the invasive feeling. Unfortunately for him, the ink that got into his body, which was a LOT, was now trapped and he unscrunched himself to stop the bloated feeling.

Only to launch himself in the air when he was forcing the ink out.

"YOU ARE SOOOO DEEEEAAAAADDDD...!"

At this point Felicia was cackling on the floor in tears.

"Don't worry!" she called out between laughs. "The view's great!"

While her friend's sister was laughing mad, Nova quickly turned the Launchpad into her own color and rushed to see if her buddy was OK.

/ \

Wind rushed passed Luke's face as he sailed into the air. He had turned into his inkling form mid-air long after launching himself and now had his arms crossed.

"I can't believe it! She changed alright, into a psychotic brother tormenter!" he said too no one in particular. "Ok, worse case scenario she'll be dragging my dead corpse into the ocean where no one will find me; best case scenario, she going to-" he was cut short by the oncoming pavement of the plaza.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, trying to right his body so he'd land feet first. He did manage to land on his feet, but he didn't stay on them.

"Oof! Ow! Dammit!" he said, each exclamation coming out everytime he rolled into contact with the ground.

He looked himself over noticing he was only scratched up a bit. 'Hmm... more durable than I thought.' he said, although he soon regretted saying it since bruises on his abdomen, left shoulder and legs began to form and the pain as well, now that the adrenaline had worn off.

"Me and my big mouth." he said and groaned and moaned his way to a bench.

A few seconds later Nova landed in the same location he did, albeit with more grace. After landing she looked around. Luke assumed she was looking for her.

"Over here!" Luke shouted.

She swiftly turned around and walked over to him. Luke watched her make her way over, clutching his aching shoulder, when he made eye contact with a familiar pair of yellow eyes. This time the owner visibly retreated into Booyah Base.

"Wat'cha lookin' at?" Nova asked, she then realized he was clutching his shoulder in pain. "Did you hurt yourself in the fall?"

"It's her again..." he said, still looking at the door the girl went into.

"What?"

Luke abruptly grabbed her hand, "C'mon, I need to see why she keeps staring at me. It's happened twice now."

Nova was definitely stronger than him, she pulled him back to the bench and forced him to sit down.

"Start from the beginning please." she commanded, glaring at him. Luke had stopped thinking about the mystery girl for a moment to focus back on Nova. She was looking a mixture of frustration, confusion, and worry. Her hand was gripping firmly on his wrist as well; even if he wanted to start chasing that mystery girl around for a few answers, Nova would make doing so quite difficult at the very least.

Luke began to scratch his cheek, "Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell you earlier but we got so wrapped up in making our own Splatoon that I guess I forgot."

Her response was to raise an eyebrow. "Well then no time like the present, shoot." she answered, skeptical of his excuse.

He sighed and gave in. "There's this girl that's been staring me down everytime she sees me. I've only seen her around the plaza twice, but it's giving me a weird feeling everytime we see each other. I was going to try and ask her why she kept staring at me whenever I got the chance." Luke looked at Nova for a reaction.

At first, Nova had a completely blank stare, as if to process everything he just told her. Then, slowly but surely, she had a huge grin on her face again.

"I see romance on the horizon~!" she sung teasingly.

"Anyways!" Luke interrupted. "Let's go before she-"

He himself was interrupted by a pale, young female inkling with purple tentacles and steel blue eyes walked over to them with something in her hands.

* * *

 **OH MY GOSH THAT TOOK WAY TOO LONG TO POST! *dies***

 **Anyways I've been busy with things like celebrating my birthday or dogsitting to write for as long as I wanted so this chapter took forever!**

 **Two things I want to discuss with my Readers:**

 **1\. I was wondering if this would be an ideal chapter size to go for you guys. This chapter is the longest yet, being ten pages long in OpenOffice (and 11 words over that.) and I would like to know if you want these chapters longer since this and the next chapter were supposed to be one chapter. However that doesn't mean that the next chapter was going to be short by any means. (In fact I'm pretty sure there will be enough content to be as long as chapter 1 at the LEAST.)**

 **2\. I want to try some things new in the next chapter. What they are I won't say until the Author's Notes in the next chapter but please tell me if you guys notice it when you review and your opinion on these things.**

 **That's all for now! Until next time! Staaay Fresh!**


	5. Chapter 4: Surf Shops and Turf Wars Pt 1

Chapter 4: Surf Shops and Turf Wars Part 1

"Hello?" Nova said to the stranger.

The stranger simply nodded at her and focused her attention on Luke. Looking at her he notice her attire consisted of a golf visor, a baby-jelly shirt, and cherry kicks. Her cold eyes were analyzing him as well before bringing her arms out and bowing like a servant to her master.

Luke looked at the object she held in her hands, what it was, he couldn't tell. The container was a short, wide, metal cylinder and and that's all he could tell about it. To not be rude, he graciously took the container.

She lifted herself from her previous position to a standing one."Rub that balm on your bruises," she said in a soft-spoken monotone."It will help to numb the pain." With that she turned to walk away.

"Wait!" She turned her head for a sideways glance at Luke. "Thank you." he said trying to keep his voice steady. "If I can ask, what's your name?"

The stranger adjusted her visor and simply left.

"That," Nova stated. "was hella weird..."

"Well she was trying to help so I guess I'll use some of this before I go to bed."

Nova gave him a shocked look. "What?! No! Are you Crazy?! You just met a mystery girl, who gave you a mystery box, with some mystery balm in it. For all you know she's some sort of assassin who hates your guts for some reason."

He had to raise a brow at that. "Says the person who literally up walked to me and became my friend just like that." Luke smirked

She frowned a bit in response."I at least had the decency to share my name before that. She did the mysterious person thingy! All she really needed was a mystery cloak of death and despair to complete the image!"

"You know saying things like that makes you sound like you've watched way too many movies."

"Y'know if you guys want to test out the authenticity of that balm you could ask me."

They turned there attention to a really dark skinned inkling with orange tentacles and brown eyes.

"Wow there are a lot of squids coming over here. Is it us or somethin'?"

The newcomer laughed, "Nah, Actually I just got here today, I overheard you guys and think I might be able to help" he held his hand out to Luke, who took it and shook it. "Name's Brodie, Brodie Ammadon"

"Nova Aldjoy at your service." she leaned on him and winked at him which caused him to lightly blush.

"My name is Luke Vernon. Nice to meet you."

Brodie sat down next to him. "Likewise, now let me see that balm stuff I heard you talkin' about." Luke handed over the container. He moved the air around to whiff it. "Peppermint, eucalyptus, and some lavender." He sniffed some more "As well as some grapeseed oil and shea nut oil." He then rubbed his right index finger on the balm and rubbed it between his index and thumb. "And the base component is beeswax." He handed it back to Luke.

"How did you know all that just by touching and smelling it?" Luke asked.

"Mom's a herbalist and does the gardening herself. I've helped her when I was younger so I learned how to make a few things as well as get used to the smell of a few of the ingredients."

"Amazing!" Nova exclaimed then turned her head to Luke, "Well now that that's been tested by a professional," Brodie proceeded to blush at the statement. "I guess you can put that on and not worry about dying."

Luke rolled his eyes,"Well we better go into Booyah Base and wait for my sister. Nice meeting you Brodie."

"Uh... Actually I was hoping I could hang with you guys..." Brodie said with a nervous hand at the back of his neck.

Nova looked at him quizzically. "If you don't mind me asking, why exactly?"

"Well, if I'm honest, you guys are actually the first people to really talk to me." he then looked to the ground. "Other people just find me annoying or don't consider me as part of their team."

"Wait, your part of a Splatoon?" Nova asked.

"No, but I've played, if you don't have a team, they'll set you up with random people. I thought everyone knew that."

Luke laughed nervously, "Weellll... the thing is... we haven't played before. We just came today for our first turf war." Brodie looked him up and down.

"Well I guess that explains the Splattershot Jr. in your hands. You should really put it away."

Luke suddenly facepalmed, "What's wrong?" Nova asked.

"We left our carrying cases in the training course remember? Felicia has them."

Nova made an 'oh' face. "Guess we'll have to carry them with us until she gets here." She thought for a moment. "What's she doing anyways?"

"Probably in another laughing fit. Last time she got like that she laughed for 3 hours straight then passed out."

Nova and Brodie looked at him with saucer sized eyes for a moment.

"She was fine afterwards, but it was definitely something." Luke had grinned at the memory.

"Well I can put your weapons in my case until further notice." Brodie said, taking off the case strap on his shoulder and opened it to reveal his own weapon. "It'll be a snug fit, but I think we can manage it."

Luke and Nova handed their weapons over to Brodie, who struggled to place the two weapons into the bag until they managed to fit.

"There all done. Where to now?"

"OH!OH! How about Cooler Heads? "Nova suggested," I wanna see what they got!"

Luke nodded then got up, completely rested."Ok then, let's go."

As they walked from the benches, Luke suddenly had a question.

"Hey Brodie?"

"Yeah?"

"Out of curiosity, What's your Turf War level?"

Brodie pulled out his plaza card from his shorts and handed it to Luke.

It read:

Brodie Ammadon

Level:2 Rank:-

Luke gave him back his card and Brodie put it back. "I was actually heading to Ammo Knights to get me a Splattershot, but I'll wait until you guys get ready for your first turf war before I buy it."

Getting up to the store, two inklings were looking at its contents: a girl with purple tentacles dark skin and yellow eyes(who Luke determined was not the mystery girl by the fact that she had purple tentacles and wasn't staring blankly at him.) was ogling at the different types of headgear in the shop with her orange tentacle, slightly lighter male companion.

"Check that one out supra!" she pointed out a hat. "That one looks good!"

He nodded "I like it but seriously, Lonnie your gonna burn a hole in your pocket if you keep spending your coins like that."

Luke and company entered the store. The shop had a colorful array of hats and headgear on a variety of racks and mannequins.

A small girl with a colorful pink afro with yellow-green tips, colorful jacket, pink headphones, big glasses for her big eyes, which themselves was an interesting combination of magenta irises with cyan pupils.

"O-oh hello..." she greeted softspokenly. "May I see your cards... that is if you don't mind..."

Luke blinked at her a bit. She seemed to be the proprietor of the store, but she also seemed really shy.

'The "little dinner" as Felicia put it must be the backbone of the shop. I can't see her as being someone who could do this by herself.' he thought.

Nova piped up to answer the shopkeeper, "Me and Luke here don't have cards." she gestured to her blue tentacled cohort. "Brodie here has a card though."

Her and Luke let Brodie through so he could give Annie his plaza card. After a glance, Annie shook her head and gave it back.

"I-I'm very sorry, but um... I'm afraid we have... a sort of rule here, you see. We don't sell to people who aren't, um, fresh enough." All three of them had their hopes dashed of getting to find something they like. "Once you reach, say... Level 4... I should be able to help you. Maybe you could visit the lobby and play some, um... regular battles? That might help you level up..."

A clown fish popped out of her afro and shouted, "BEAT IT, LOSERS!"

"Well if his card doesn't work, how about mine Ann?"

They all turned to see Felicia, unequipped and crossing her arms on the doorway with both Luke and Nova's empty cases in her left hand.

Luke noticed that Brodie was drooling at his sister. "Who's the hottie?"

Luke glared at Brodie, "That's my sister." he growled.  
Brodie tossed his hands in the air defensively, "Oops, my bad." Nova shook her head.

"O-oh! H-h-hello Felicia! You don't have to if you don't want..."  
Felicia walked up to and grinned at Annie and pointed behind her. "These three are my brother and his friends. You don't mind me having them stay here while I talk a look for something to buy do you?"

Annie once again shook her head, "N-no, not at all! But... because of the rules..."

Once again the clown fish, leapt out of Annie's hair. "YA MOLDY PUNKS BETTER NOT TOUCH NOTHIN'!"

Nova was ready to blow a fuse, "What did that little piscean pipsqueak call me?!"

Luke and Brodie glanced at each other then took each arm of their female friend who was clawing at the air with a rapacious look in her eyes.

"HA! SQUID MORE LIKE A PIPEFISH! YA LOOK LIKE A TWIG SKINNY!"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU GODDAMN SARDINE!"

"Calm down! It's not worth it!"

"LET. ME. AT. HIM!"

Nova had wiggled free at this point but before the fish could become squid bait, Felicia casually gripped Nova's arm tightly and began to walk out the door.

Luke and Brodie's mouth gaped open. In the span of the two minutes they were restraining Nova, it had took the same amount of time for Felicia to look at, try out, and purchase five items.

"Thanks, um a lot!" squeaked Annie

"YOU'LL BE BACK!" Called the annoying clown fish.

"Stow it Moe!" An annoyed Felicia called out.

'Well that's new.'Luke thought. In his world, an annoyed Felicia was a very, VERY rare occasion.

After the girls went out of the store, the guys followed to see Nova standing next to Felicia, the latter trying to keep the former calm.

"What a condesening ass!"

Felicia sighed and nodded nonchalantly, "Yes, we know."

"I'll strangle that stupid clown fish!"

"Get in line."

"How can Annie put up with that little jerk!"

"It's an enigma wrapped in mystery."

Luke came up to Nova, "Are you ok?"

She turned to him suddenly and grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"No I'm not!" she angrily said in what could be determined as a really angry, nigh demonic voice.

Luke looked ready to pass out from being shook like a rag doll.

"Help!" he squeaked before he began to feel to nauseous to speak

Brodie and Felicia backed away and some inklings looked at the display with interest.

Brodie turned to Felicia and whispered "Remind me not to make her mad." Felicia simply nodded.

Once Nova relaxed, she moved her arms away from her friend to stretch.

"Alright, whose ready to go into the next shop?" Nova smiled again, back to her usual self within moments. Luke on the other hand, was still disoriented from the assault he had endured.

"When Luke recovers from your little fit, we'll move out. Until then I gonna grab a snack."

A few minutes of laying on a bench later, Luke recovered from being shook senseless. "I think I'm ok now..."

"Here."

Luke got his case for his Splattershot Jr., Brodie gave him his weapon and he put his weapon into its proper case.

"Nova already got her case if your wondering." Nova was behind Brodie and she waved her hand in greeting.

Now that Luke could think clearly, he realized something. "That girl wasn't in there."

Nova jerked her head towards him in response, "Now that you mention it, you're right, I didn't see hide or hair of anyone save for Annie and the piece of shark bait."

Brodie looked at them in confusion, "What you talkin' 'bout?"

Nova decided to fill him in,"Luke's trying to find a mystery girl who keeps staring at him." She gave Luke a skeptical look. "Although the more we keep searching the more I think Luke is goin' a bit on the cray-cray." As if to emphasize her point, she made a circular motion with her fingers.

Luke glared at his accuser,"I am not crazy, I know what I saw. I just don't know how she disappeared as fast as she did, like she vanished into thin air."

"Well she probably used the door." Brodie suggested.

Both Luke and Nova stared at Brodie like he was stupid.

"What?!" Nova exclaimed. "If she used the door we would have more than likely seen her!"

"No not the entrance, the side doors. They go to the adjacent shops."

Nova raised a brow. "So?"

Luke came up with a conclusion,"So she might have went to one of the other stores!" he had gotten up suddenly and began to ran towards Jelly Fresh.

"Luke, wait!" Nova called, getting up and going after him. Brodie followed them, sighing.

_  
/ \

"Jelly Fresh! Thanking fo- BLUUUH! A fashion crime is in the progress! Moldy customer is moldy. Jelonzo is in the great shock! Level 4 is being required. You are needing more of the fresh for the shopping! Play regular battle in lobby for the freshness, yes? Then again, visiting please." Jelonzo the Jellyman who was wearing a trendy red vector tee and the proprietor of Jelly Fresh was kicking Luke out practically on sight.

'Well then, one: I just got in here and you're already tossing me out, and two: looks like that girl isn't in here anyways.'Luke sighed.'Maybe she's in Shrimp Kicks.'

Just then Nova busted through the doors, panting. "You run pretty fast when your being a stalker, y'know that?" she said between breaths.

"I'm not stalking, I just need to know why she keeps giving me the look she's always giving me."

"And what would that be exactly? Bedroom eyes? Angry glare?"

"I'll tell you later when we're with Brodie and Felicia."

They began to walk out when Jelonzo stopped them. "Waiting for the moment!" he called out to them.

Both squid kids looked at him, "Hmm?" Nova stopped midway out the door.

"You are knowing of the Felicia? Like in the Felicia of the Vernon?"

"Yeah, she's my sister and we were coming here to shop here." Luke began to smile a bit in pride. Having a famous sister seems to have its perks. "She went to get a snack so she'll be coming her any moment."

"Many apologies, the mall is having many of the rules about selling to the moldy customers, but I will be letting you do the staying here while your sister is doing the shopping if you would like, yes?"

"Thanks, Jelonzo."

Nova jumped backwards when she noticed Felicia was standing next to her. Luke turned around to see Felicia walking deeper into the shop to look for clothes with Brodie following close behind.

"How do you do that?!" she asked, thoroughly freaked out.

Felicia simply answered with a simple yet cryptic,"I have my ways." she looked at Luke semi annoyed and he returned it with an awkward grin and wave. "What I would like to know is how you guys manage to come to these stores expecting to get service without doing turf wars."

Now that they had the time to look around and not worry about Nova tearing the store owner apart, the browsed for clothes for a while.

"I can't believe Jelonzo allowed us to stay in here to browse while you shop sis."Luke said, looking at a red and yellow striped rugby shirt.

"That's because I'm so fresh." Felicia beamed "Well that and the fact that he enjoys my customer loyalty and the fact that I love to tip the guy." Felicia winked at Jelonzo and he winked back. Luke assumed it was some sort of code for something and left it at that.

Felicia went over to Jelonzo with her haul, waited for him to ring up her purchase and headed to a door on the right side of the store. Luke followed his older sister with vigor and eagerness with his companions following closely.

"Thanks for the buying!" Jelonzo waved them goodbye.

Luke hoped that he would encounter that girl. She was beginning to plague his thoughts and it didn't make sense to him. 'She has to be here... she has to...' Her amber eyes staring him down were burned into his mind.

Entering Shrimp Kicks, Luke saw a shrimp wearing a really fuzzy designer jacket and four different pairs of shoes. The store itself had layers of shelves with shoes and boots of all shapes and colors.

"Luke this is Crusty Sean, owner of Shrimp Kicks." Felicia introduced.

"What up, squiddo!" Crusty Sean greeted. "Whose that with ya there?" he looked at the three others beside her.

"My brother and his friends. I'm just bringin' them along while I go shopping. You don't mind do you Sean?"

"Nah not at all! Nice to meet ya'll." He greeted

"Hi" Nova and Brodie said simultaneously. Luke on the other hand settled on waving.

As Felicia went to shopping, Crusty Sean whispered into her ear. "I take it the shy one's your brother?" They both glanced over at Luke who was now looking at some black trainers.

"Yeah that's him." she said flatly.

He nodded in return, still observing Luke, "Seems like a nice squid."

Felicia scoffed, "He may be nice, but he'll need to crack that shell if he wants to play Turf Wars."

"He'll break it." Felicia looked at him in slight shock. Before the question came out of her mouth Crust Sean added, "Before you ask, it's because he definitely resembles you when you started playin'. Although, if I'm honest he lacks, your happy-go-luckiness."

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "If you say so."

With that said, she returned to shopping.

Three minutes of browsing and shopping and Felicia had checked out all she wanted for the day..

"Nice doin' business with ya kid!" Crusty Sean said, taking Felicia's cash. The group walked out of Shrimp Kicks, the day starting to burn out.

"Ok before we go and get your cards how about we get us all some food. I'm sure we're all hungry." Felicia suggested

"Hells yeah! I'm starving!" Brodie shouted.

"I could go for a bite. Luke, how about you?"

As if listening on the conversation, Luke's stomach growled loudly.

"Well that settles it, let's go to the cafe that the Squid Sister studio was on top of."

With that, they headed to the northeast side of the plaza.

_  
/ \

"Mmm... thif cakfis buggah iph good."

Nova made a disgusted face. "Brodie, can you not talk with your mouth full. Besides that being gross by itself, you're drooling."

Brodie swallowed the food in his mouth and licked his mouth. Nova stared incredulously at Brodie who continue to scarf down his catfish burger before finishing what was left of her tuna pot pie.

"Sooo... Luke..." Nova began.

"Hmm?"

"About this girl, can you give us a better description than 'she's a girl and she stares a lot.'?"

Felicia's head perked up at the word "girl." "An if I may ask who is this aforementioned girl you are talking about?" she immediately looked at Luke for answers.

'Well the topic was bound to get more sibling publicity anyways. Might as well tell her.

Luke sighed,"A weird girl with dark skin and pink tentacles kept staring at me this whole day. She also had yellow eyes."

Felicia smiled, "Maybe she likes you, you never know."

Luke looked downwards,"I have my doubts."

"Believe what you want, but that's what I think."

"So back to my earlier question, how was she staring at you exactly." Nova asked, determined to get her answer.

Luke thought for a moment. "She had looked at me like she was staring into me, I mean if looks could kill I'd probably would have spontaneously combusted."

"Ok, so we look for a black cat squid that's ready to tear Luke's face apart at any moment" Brodie thought out loud. The other patrons at the table simply stared at him. "What?"

Nova shook her head."Nothing Brodie."

Felicia stood up and pushed in her chair. "Alright, if we're done here let's go get your cards."

The younger squids got up and tossed their trash away and headed out into the plaza.

Felicia stopped at the walls near the Inkopolis Tower. There, on a garbage can was a black and white, plump cat with a tuxedo pattern on his body sleeping on a pillow.

"Guys, this is Judd. He judges the matches that take place here and he's also in charge of getting the plaza cards made."

"Mrow?(Who are they?)" Judd asked.

"My brother and his friends. They just arrived today and need their cards."

"Actually," Brodie quickly stated. "I already got my card from Judd. Nice seein' you again, by the way."

"Meow.(Nice seein' you too Brodie.)" Judd stretched then leapt off of the soft pillow onto the ground. "Meow.(Follow me to the computer so we can get your cards.)"

The group started to walk up the ramp with Judd in the lead. A Splatoon group had just begun to walk out of the tower. With the dark skinned, yellow eyed girl from his arrival leading the group and eyes focusing on him.

* * *

 **Name: Luke Vernon  
** **Eye Color: Blue  
Tentacle Color: Blue  
Skin Tone: Light Tan  
** **Description: Shy; Very smart and adaptable. He always stays cautious with the exception of the occasion of overpowering curiosity. (In those exceptions he can become reckless.) When he isn't shying away he is considered naïve and dependent.  
** **Name Origin & Meaning: Latin & Greek origin; It means light.**

* * *

 **This thing was being evil to edit I swear...*grumble* *grumble***

 **Anyways I had a easier time writing ten pages with this one and I swear the next one will definitely be filled with action.**

 **While I couldn't get one of my surprises up within my limit, I manage to get the other one up: Bios!**

 **I will try and put Bios up every 4 chapters for those who want a general feel of the characters. The other surprise will be up near the beginning of the 5th chapter.**

 **I also thank Boy Jav and FoxtheInkling for the reviews! They are greatly appreciated and help me know that I'm doing something right!**

 **So until the next chapter...**

 **Staaay Fresh!**

 **Edit: Just remembered a bit of trivia! The inklings mentioned in the story that were looking at stuff in Booyah Base are my Inkling and my friend's. The first mystery inkling is based of her and was originally the protagonist of this story. Just thought I share.**


	6. Chapter 5: Surf Shops and Turf Wars Pt 2

Chapter 5: Surf Shops and Turf Wars Part 2

**Warning* Data may be compromised or damaged*

Log 2:

Subject:Pro_ct Chi_

Date: J_ 31, _

La_:S_g

All r_rds of me_al str_th tes_ng for s_cts 1-4 have been taken. They all show p_

me_al st_e for te_ng and now we _ be intro_ them to physic_ tests to see how

heal_y they are. Subject 1, my s_ Attor, has _e in with the h_st _ score of 180,

amazing for a tender age of _. Subject 2 my d_r Me_e, had a good score as well,

scoring 149 on her final test.

The Lowell's on the other hand had lower scores in comparison. Faolan had gotten a 135 with

his sister Guadalupe having a sl_tly lower 132. But it won't be their in_nce alone that

will make them or break them, their ad_ity is key. They will have to e_e and solve

maze-like obstacle courses as well as have a res_nce to to_ins. Their ordeal has just begun

Pr_or Raza Dr_e.

/ \

 _ **Arsonist's Lullaby by Hozier**_

Luke fought to say something but couldn't even muster a sound, instead they silently passed by each other, each second doing so seeming like hours.

'It's definitely her.' he thought, memories of her burning eyes resurfacing, her pupils were the coals set alight within them and the setting sun along with her milk chocolate skin only made them seem to burn more brightly. Her pink tentacles glistened with the colors of a lofty sunrise. She wore a black Squideye shirt along with the blue and yellow striped band accessory and zombie Hi-horses. Her face was set in a stoic gaze as she looked into him once more, and yet he found her alluring, like a moth to a flame.

Her followers, although not focusing on him, also had a equally detached look. A fair skinned boy with turquoise tentacles and glistening green eyes moved besides her, a tan girl with green tentacles and green eyes, an extremely pale boy with magenta eyes (although from this perspective Luke swore they looked blood red.) and in the back a set of twins with pale skin, purple tentacles, and-

Wait a sec...

His eyes widened into saucers when he realized that one of the twins was the one who gave him the balm from earlier.

"A-a..." was all he could utter before they had completely disappeared from view.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**

Inside the tower, there were flashing lights everywhere within the lobby, each color and shape symbolizing a different battle mode.

"Wow..." Nova said looking around in amazement. "Oohh... pretty colors!"

Brodie laughed, "You look like a kid in a candy shop Novs."

"As far as I'm concerned I am a kid in a candy shop." she replied giddily.

Luke twisted his face in confusion. "Uh, Novs?" he asked Brodie.

Brodie put his arms behind his head and smiled in satisfaction, "Cool nickname right? Came up with it on the fly."

Luke was speechless for a moment and began to walk faster to get closer to his sister until Brodie had a "I've got an idea!" expression on his face.

"And we can call you Lu, and you guys can call me Bro."

Luke turned to him with a deadpan,"No."

Brodie's face had fallen into some sort of sad, puppy dog look."Why, not Lu?"

"I rather just call you both by you proper names." he said then said, "And the both of you please just call me Luke." as stern as he could.

"But Lu is easier to say." Brodie whined back.

"It's just as easy to say as Luke, and Luke is my real name. Therefore, Luke is just fine."

Brodie raised his brow at him."You keep insisting I call you Luke instead of Lu, but I honestly don't see how that matters. It's just a nickname." Brodie put his arms to the side and sighed. "But if it makes ya happier I'll call ya Luke."

"Thank you." Luke said in contentment. "Now to bring up something more important. That girl I mentioned earlier...we had passed her when we went into the tower." Brodie's fins perked up when he said that.

"Really?"he asked. Nova had fell behind at this point to be able to hear the conversation better.

"Yeah. You didn't notice?"

Brodie rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Luke apologetically, much to the latter's annoyance. "Sorry bro."

Nova only added to his disappointment, "Didn't see 'em either. I probably turned the corner before they started walking out."

'Great, maybe I am going absolutely insane.'

As if hearing his thoughts Nova muttered,"Well sounds like my 'you're crazy theory' isn't too far off now does it?"

"Shut it."

"Just sayin'."

At the front left corner of the lobby, Judd went around the desk, hopped into the chair and turn on the computer on the desk.

"Meow.(Ok, I just need your names and you'll have your ID's in no time.)"

"Luke Vernon."

"Nova Aldjoy."

Judd tapped away at the computer and within moments handed Luke and Nova their cards.

"Here you are. With these you'll be able to participate in normal battles."

The cards read:

Luke Vernon

Level:1 Rank:-

Nova Aldjoy

Level:1 Rank:-

With that done, Judd scuttled off somewhere in the tower.

"All right let's get you into your first turf war. While you guys were walking in the back, I asked Judd to assign us together as a team for this round." Felicia told them.

Brodie was the most surprised,looking at her with wide, saucepan eyes,"You can do that?!"

Felicia responded to his reaction with a cocky grin,"When you're one of the best you can~"

Luke rolled his eyes and suddenly remembered something Brodie said earlier. "Hey didn't you say you were going to Sheldon's to get something."

Brodie's head snapped towards him, "Dammit, you're right!" He took off shouting, "Be right back!"

/ \

When Brodie came back, his group was waiting for him in the regular battle lobby, prepped with their weapons.

Each lobby contained two benches for contestants of each to wait on, two locker rooms for girls and boys and branching corridors that led the teams to any of the locations ink battles took place in. The corridors had locking mechanisms for each stage, so an inkling wouldn't easily get lost easily when going to a stage in rotation.

"'Kay, I'm back and ready to test this thing out!" Brodie reached into his bag and pulled out a Splattershot. Luke and Nova looked at his weapon.

"Nice! How much did it cost?"

"500 coins."

"That seems like quite a bit of cash." Luke suddenly was worried about his pockets.

Felicia simply scoffed at him, "You think that's expensive? When we get to my apartment, I'll show you my arsenal."

"Meaning you'll show me all the money spent out your arse." he muttered to himself.

"What was that dear brother?" Felicia sounded like she was ready to shove her Splattershot Jr. where the sun don't shine if he told her what he said.

He quickly turned his head away from her with a quick, "Nothing nevermind."

Satisfied, she turned to Brodie with annoyance."I thought you've been here before, you still haven't put your stuff up."

Brodie did a double take of his bags and then darted into one of the adjacent locker rooms.

Luke saw three other kids walking into the lobby room and straight into the locker rooms. 2 guys and a girl went in and judging by their appearance they were new too. The guys came out first, one had blue tentacles with dark eyes and pale skin wielding a Splattershot Jr., and the other had orange tentacles with orange eyes and light peach skin. What was interesting to Luke was the giant paint-roller weapon he slung over his shoulder.

"Impressive, what weapon is that?" Nova asked.

The boy looked at her with zealous pride. "This? This is a Splat Roller and I'm gonna crush you newbs with it!"

Nova twisted her face in disagreement, "Ugh, rude! What makes you so sure you're gonna win anyways!"

"Pfft! You guys got Splattershot Jr.'s, you're obviously new to Turf Wars! Me and Deborah's gonna splat the shell outta you newbs!" The boy with his Splattershot Jr simply looked around awkwardly trying to stay out of it

Luke turned to Felicia to gauge her reaction of their opponents. To his amazement she had a serious look to her face, and didn't even once try to banter.

Brodie and girl from before, presumably Deborah, came out. She was a light tan like Luke but had pink tentacles and magenta eyes. She also carried a long gun-like weapon and held it under her right arm.

"Showing out as usual Tytus?" she asked. "We're great and all but y'know you don't gotta embarrass the newbies 'cause they just got here and everything." she said it casually but there was no mistaking her arrogant tone and the haughty little smirk she made at them.

Brodie laughed triumphantly,"And I'm not sure if your blind or what, but one of these squid's is not like the others."

Tytus looked completely confused, Deborah on the other hand had made a complete 180 of emotion on her features and looked subtly at her charger out of nerves.

The look of confidence returned when Felicia spotted a familiar face enter the room and she was surprised.

"Koray? What are you doing here?"

Koray had orange tentacles with orange eyes like Tytus but he was paler in complextion and was wearing pilot goggles, white anchor tee and red hi-tops. He smiled at Felicia with a wholehearted smile.

"Judd sent me here when he said you were showing you're brother and his friends how to do turf wars. He wanted to keep the competition even on both ends I assume."

He went into the locker room and when he came out he was equipped with a cylindrical shooter with a long barrel.

".96 Gal huh?" Felicia asked. Koray nodded. "Interesting choice..."

"Is it just me or is your sister getting more competitive?" Nova hissed in Luke's ear.

She wasn't wrong. Felicia had her fingers ready on the trigger of her Splattershot Jr. and stared at Koray with a stoic look on her face.

The sudden whining of unlocking mechanisms meant they were going to the arena. Each team turned around into their respective door, and began walking down the corridors, the door closing behind them.

"You all nervous?" Felicia asked them.

"Again, not my first turf war so no, I'm not." Brodie stated with slight irritability.

"Speak for yourself." Even as she said it Nova trembled with anticipation.

"Luke? How about you?"

"H-huh? Y-yeah I guess..." Luke looked away from the rest of them, lost in thought.

He heard Felicia sigh and start an explanation."Ok, the game's Turf Wars. Ink as much ground as possible, walls do not count."

He finally mustered up the courage to ask something.

"So sis, who's Koray?" Luke dared a glance at his sister who had gone completely silent.

"H-he's my teammate." she said. Luke noticed how she stumble on her words and then realized she had a faint blush.

Confused on her behavior, he asked ,"Why are you so embarrassed talking about your teammate?"

"Embarrassed?"She gave a nervous chuckle, the blush spreading throughout her face. I'm not embarrassed! Why would I be embarrassed about Koray?! It's not like I-Anyways back to what I was saying before that question came up."

Both Luke and Brodie continued to look at Felicia's strange behavior in confusion while Nova had a small blush of her own coupled with a grin.

'Girls can be so weird.' Luke thought to himself. No doubt Brodie was thinking something similar.

They reached the end of the hallway which had doors on their right side, each of them were closed and had a red colored light above them except for one that had a green light on above it.

"Ok, we're going through this one." At Felicia's lead, they went into the door, and once again, it closed behind them. "We need to try and stratagize this. I can try to track Koray and make sure he doesn't do too much damage but you'll have to worry about the others. The weapons they have are pretty strong too, the Splat Charger that girl had and the roller the cocky guy had are going to be your biggest threat weapon-wise."

"What about Koray and the other kid?" Nova inquired.

"Koray's weapon is stronger but it's not good for covering the ground, meaning he's probably their main offensive. You see him, try and get away and sneak attack him from a close vantage point, especially you two." she pointed at both Nova and Luke. "These weapon don't have much range on them in comparison to Koray's or Brodie's for that matter so Brodie you already have an advantage on us and that timid kid in terms of weapon choice too."

"Roger that." Brodie said with a goofy looking grin plastered on his face.

The reached a small, circular platform that was covered in blue ink at the end of this hallway.

"This is a special pad that helps you change your ink color." Felicia explained. "Turn into your squid form and it does the rest."

She walked on the pad and turned into a squid. Rapidly, her colored darkened into a blue identical to her brother's, Brodie followed her lead and the same thing happened to his tentacles. The two level one players shared quick glances at each other and got onto the pad as well, changing into squids like their higher level teammates. The pad suddenly rose upwards once they were all on it.

"I know Koray, he'll also be telling his team strategies about the stage once they get there so we have to worry about his plan." Felicia told them.

"That Tytus guy looks like a hot head, so we should try and use that to our advantage." Luke suggested. Felicia made a noise of confirmation.

"The charger is gonna be a small problem, but she shouldn't be too much of a hassle if you keep moving." Felicia continued. "The guy with the Splattershot Jr. looks like a newbie just like you two so you might be on an equal playing field with him."

They rose up into the arena: Urchin Underpass.

They turned into their humanoid forms a couple of moments after the pad stopped its movements

"Brodie have you played here before?" Felicia asked the dark-skinned squid.

"Nope I only played in Saltspray Rig and Walleye Warehouse, and even then, it was only once for each stage."

"Ready...!" Announced Judd, who was on the edge of the arena atop a wall with a megaphone.

"Alright then here's a strat tip: Use the side alleys and remember that are opponents have a weapon advantage as well as more experience. Good Luck everyone!"

"GO!"

 _ **Somebody New by Joywave**_

The group split up almost immediately. Luke, Nova, and Brodie had rushed off, inking the ground as they went while Felicia stayed behind to ink up their starting point.

Luke took the slope to the side alley while Nova went straight into the central area.

Only to get splatted by Tytus almost immediately.

"Yeah baby! Ty: one Blue Team: Nil!" he screamed in victory.

Unfortunately for him, his victory was short lived when he got blasted by Luke who was able sneak a splat through the grate.

Brodie and Felicia were following close behind so he went into the alley to ink it. At the end he spied Koray and the other kid nearly done inking the center area. He quietly aimed from the grating below him and fired at the nearest one which was Koray. Koray got hit three times before he managed to get out of Luke's range of fire and started firing back. Out of panic, Luke turned into a squid and fell into the orange teams' ink. He was stuck at the mercy of Koray .

"Not so fast Koray!" Felicia shouted, he looked in her direction before realizing his mistake. Luke pried himself free from the ink, while he was distracted and splatted Korey.

"Thanks sis!" he called called over to her as she leapt the gap.

"Keep your head in the game!" she shot back at him inking around the passage to the opposite team's base.

Over her head he noticed some movement in the enemies alley. An orange laser was trying to focus on her.

"Sis! To your left!" he called out to her. He quickly went back to inking the turf blue.

Felicia realized she was being targeted by the orange team's sniper and went to work. She deftly avoided Deborah's clumsy attempts to splat her and she turned the alley blue with a few quick shots to the wall below it and well placed shots into her enemy.

Luke dived into enemy territory, watching his step. He apparently had been spotted despite his caution, as he he was inking the orange teams slope he heard a cackle before he was promptly ambushed.

"Surprise, son of a squid!" Tytus bellowed from above him before getting squashed by the Splat Roller.

Luke respawned at the pad with a slight headache from his attacker's flanking. His bruise pains from earlier were starting to flare up from the exertion.

Luke began to sim back to the action when suddenly an orange wave of sound energy surrounded him. He took this as a sign to move and he darted away as quickly as possible. He sighed a small breath of relief as he missed the devastating sound waves of a Killer Wail.

He saw Koray and his sister locked in a firefight at the center area. Grinning slyly, he carefully advanced in squid form and when Koray got close enough...

SPLAT!

Felicia gave a brief nod of gratitude and the siblings advanced into enemy territory. They looked at Brodie and Nova firing back to back covering the area before them. They were immediately set upon by three orange team members.

"Gotcha again Newb!" Tytus shouted from above.

'Not this time!' Luke quickly swam away back into the center area trying to avoid the oncoming roller.

Felicia tried to run over to her brother's aid when the sudden force of shots drove themselves into her back, splatting her. Her flanker was smirking to himself in triumph.

Luke turned around when he was good distance from Tytus and began to shoot him while backing up, eventually forcing his attacker to literally give up the ghost. Panting heavily he swam back into the fray, the time had one minute remaining on the clock and the adrenaline began to numb his nerves and made his blood pulse in his ears. He went back in, splating Koray a second time and recovering the ground he had sprayed. He went up the ramps and joined his friends near the orange team base.

"We got 'em cornered now!" Brodie cheered.

10...

Brodie went up and tried to attack the new kid only to get splatted due to his ignorance of the shield that the pad had.

9...

The Splattershot Jr wielder rushed toward them in an attempt to splat them.

8...

Both Nova and Luke backed up. Nova took out the orange kid while doing so.

7...

Deborah respawned next. She aimed at Nova, who sunk into the ink below her.

6...

Deborah looked around for them by splatting the area as best she could.

5...

A well aimed shot gave her a shot at Nova who was instantly splatted.

4...

Tytus respawned and began taking some of the territory back with Deborah following his lead.

3...

Felicia splatted Tytus before he could go out into the main area. Luke silently followed Deborah into the alley that she had clambered up, inking carefully so that she didn't notice him.

2...

Deborah aimed her weapon at the back of Felicia's head, her target busy with a respawned Koray.

1...

SPLAT! SPLAT!

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**

Time was called both siblings looked at each other. The jumped up in joy and went back to the pad. When they were back on the pad, Judd counted the results.

BAM! A crushing defeat for Team Orange with a percentage of 13.6% while Team Blue had a score of 68.2%.

/ \

The Blue Team, with the exception of Felicia had exited the tower. She had stayed in to catch up with Koray for a ranked match. Or at least that's what she told them. Luke had gotten 558 coins, Nova had 556 coins, Brodie had 878 coins.

Suddenly Tytus came out of the tower, just as loud as he was when they were in tower and during the match, with Deborah in tow.

"You guys suck!" Tytus screamed furiously at them. "We could've easily won if you didn't have that pro player with you!"

"Dude, they were on the same Splatoon team before we even got here. They were probably equally skilled too." Nova flatly stated. "Even if that wasn't case that player that was with us was just Luke's sister."

"So what no one cares if-"

"TYTUS!" his companion shouted at him, silencing his complaints. She then turned to them, her cunning magenta eyes rested on Luke. "So that player was your sister?"

Luke nodded hesitantly.

"Impressive. Although, you all have skill yourself, both me and Tytus are level 3 players and this is the first match we've lost since we got here. So I have a proposition."

This piqued everyone's interest.

"How's about the five of us become a Splatoon. You can't officially become a Splatoon unless you have a minimum of 4 players."

"Wait a sec..." Brodie suddenly asked, "I thought Splatoons only consisted of 4 players."

"That's the minimum." Deborah repeated. "The maximum is 6 which serves as a..." she paused, twirling her finger in the air in an attempt to look for the right words to use. "Publicity team." She then walked up to him and wrapped a hand around his shoulder and whispered into his ear. "Do we have a deal?"

Luke looked over at Nova and Brodie who were looking at him with expectant eyes.

It was all up to him.

"You have a deal."

Deborah joyfully clapped her hand into the air, "Excellent! We can sort out the details tomorrow at the Catfish Cafe." She pointed at the restaurant that Luke had went to prior to the competition.

"Yeah! Not even the Death's Tide Splatoon can beat us now!" Tytus piped up.

The entire plaza went silent the moment he said that.

"Did someone just issue a challenge?" a male voice coolly asked.

Luke, Nova, and Brodie turned around to see the group of six that had exited the tower earlier walking up to them.

The pale one with the red-like magenta eyes was the one who was speaking,"Well, well, I haven't heard people actively challenging us in weeks. I was beginning to feel like nobody was up to turf wars against us."

Luke felt his body freeze up immediately. His friends seemed to be in a similar situation and they looked like lambs cornered by a pack of wolves.

"Aeolia." he called with a grin on his face. "Want to humor them with a game?"

The rest of the group parted for Aeolia, who slowly walked up to Luke. Recognition shocked him even more than before, his mouth, at this point, was gaping. It was the girl from before who was staring at him before.

"Fine with me." Her eyes locked into his once more, fire blazing within.

* * *

 **Thanks for the 1000 views, 8 follows, and 6 Reviews! This is a good milestone for me and I hope to get more. Reviews especially since this was the chapter that is debuting turf wars scenes and the musical suggestion (which I was giddy to get to anyways.)**

 **Like I said above I want to know how I did with describing the turf war and hope it was a good start.**

 **I also mention the music suggestions which are the sections that begin with the underlined bold italics and end with the squiggly. They're as the name states: suggestions for music to play during certain parts. I recommend it because: 1. Might be a song to consider for your playlist. 2. Usually tie in with the story in some fashion in terms of theme. (When it doesn't, it's because it felt perfect for the moment.)**

 **One last thing before I'm done: These chapters are getting longer and longer. It's getting to the point where I had 12 pages in OpenOffice so I'm going to extend my chapter limit to 15 pages. So if you guys like longer chapters, it's your lucky day!**

 **See ya soon and Staaay Fresh!**


	7. Chapter 6: Complicated Dreaming

Chapter 6: Complicated Dreaming

"However..." Aeolia paused, "I think we'll give them time to improve."

The pale, red-eyed(at this angle Luke could confirm they were red with the sun at their back.) looked at his leader with brief shock."Very well. When shall we have our battle then?"

Aeolia glanced back at her teammate, "Friday is an adequate date." she looked back at Luke who was holding his breath in out of fear, like she was a predator ready to devour him the moment he made any sudden movements. "What do you think? Friday is plenty of time to get your act together," she inched closer, her face stopping only a foot from his own. "Don't you think?"

Luke felt a chill down his back. If there was any blood in his face it had drained from it at that moment. He wanted to say no. He wanted to tell her that he didn't mean to provoke her team. He wanted to strangle Tytus for getting him in this situation.

Instead he nodded slowly in agreement.

"Very well... we've got a match then." With that done, she and her team walked off.

Mentally, he slapped himself in the forehead. 'Why did I do that?! What have I done?!'

"Wonderful... just wonderful..." Deborah rolled her eyes and shook her head. "One guy summons the most feared team in all of Inkopolis and the other one agrees to a witch's terms with no opposition."

Nova glared at her, "Well at least he said _something_. I didn't see you step in to help."

Deborah turned to Nova, rage beginning to boil. "That's not the point, Dumbass! He put us in a situation where we will get brutally murdered by a pro team!"

Had Brodie not been ready to keep Nova from tearing Deborah apart, things would have gone downhill from there.

Deborah kept herself away from Nova, and, much to Luke's shock, latched onto him for protection.

Tytus looked at the setting sun. "C'mon Deborah it's getting' late and I don't like bein' out at night."

Deborah shot Tytus a look that immediately told him to keep his mouth shut for the reminder of the day.

"Let's get going then." Deborah looked at Luke with capricious interest then turned around to leave along with Tytus to the train station.

"Well this day's been... interesting to say the least." Brodie settled on saying. "Well, it was nice meeting you guys so I guess we'll meet up to discuss on Monday what we'll do."

Felicia came out of the tower after a while with Luke's luggage in tow.

"Ready to go Luke?" she asked

He turned around to face her and replied to her."Alright just give me a second sis."

In a low voice, Luke said, "Well talk later. I don't want my sis to know I put myself in a stupid situation she'll likely make fun of me for being so stupid."

He remembered the serious look she gave the opposition this evening. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of that look.

They went their separate ways, Nov a and Brodie went to the train station and Luke followed his sister through the alleys and streets to her apartment.

When the siblings got to room 886 of the Dreamy Shoals apartment building, Luke was extremely sore. He wanted nothing but to go to sleep.

"What's wrong with you?" Felicia asked, nonchalantly opening the door one she found her keycard. Apparently the day hadn't exhausted her like it did him.

"Jus' tire..." Luke said begging to nod off.

"You don't want any food?" Luke perked up a bit a the word "food" and went in to eat and rest.

The apartment was fairly spacious. The main living room had a 40 inch flatscreen television and a large sofa. There were a couple of lamps for illuminating the corners of the room as well as a nice little balcony on the opposite side of the entryway. A small offshoot to the right was where the kitchen was located, Luke could primarily tell because their was the smell of sardines coming from it.

Felicia walked in and sniffed the fishy smell, "Sorry 'bout the smell, had a small snack before I came and got you." She went into the kitchen while Luke went to the sofa and relaxed.

"Here." Luke looked up from his resting position to see Felicia with a plate of crab pizza in her hand. A moment later, Felicia sat besides him with her own slice. "So why ya lookin' for this chick anyways?" she asked abruptly, making Luke turn his head sharply away from the balcony window in surprise. "Got the hots for her or somethin'?"

He raised a brow. "I thought I told you?"

She shrugged and replied, "Guess I forgot."

"Well she keeps staring at me."

Felicia gave him a boorish look, "Your point?"

Luke glared back at his sister's insensitive words. "It's off-putting when she does it and I want her to stop." "So your gonna ask politely and hope she stops looking at you." she began to chuckle in some form of amusement when he nodded yes.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Felicia became dead serious suddenly, freezing him in place,"You're being quite naïve out here." she said, frost creeping into her voice, "This isn't home, so stop treating everything you see as a hide or greet situation. Some inklings won't stop just because you ask nicely, alright?" she then viciously tore into her pizza.

'Why is she so unstable?' Luke asked himself. 'It's almost as if she was a different person entirely.'

As Luke had known her, Felicia always was happy and dramatic at times, but now he wasn't so sure that she had changed for the better.

After Luke had eaten his slice of pizza, he wordlessly grabbed his bags from near the entryway and dragged it closer to hallway left of the living room. He felt a tap on his shoulder and jolted away from the touch only see Felicia with an apologetic look on her face.

"Look I'm sorry if I seemed if I was being... snappy. I have a lot on my mind ,and I just don't want anything bad happening to the team if worse comes to worse." she looked down at her feet. "I... guess I've been keeping it in for too long..."

Luke suddenly felt pity and a tad bit guilty for his sister's erratic mood swings and turned around with a small smile.

"It's okay. I'll try not to be an idiot." Felicia gave a small smile and tousled his tentacles a bit before heading into her room on the right of the hallway.

"Your room's at the end of the hallway, Night Luke!" she called out as he made his way to his room.

_  
/ \

 **11:49 at night...**

Felicia called somebody up on her phone, she started talking once she had connected, "Hey, its me, Felicia."

A relaxed voice yet distorted voice replied, "How are you doing Miss Vernon..."

"Ha ha funny..." she said with a sarcastic tone. "I thought we established we use the nickname I ask to be called because of the fact you have zero people skills."

"Relax Feli, I'm just messing around with you." The voice said becoming more casual.

Felicia sighed, smiling to herself. "And there's that. You still messing around with the voice filters on your phone?"

The voice chuckled, "Oh yes, I'm enjoying the voice filter quite a lot... I only use it when I get a call from you guys, don't want to freak people out, but enough of that." The caller's voice became serious. "You called me for a reason."

"It's Koray. I met up with him today and wiped the floor with him."

"So?" The voice said. "There's more than one reason that you're my second-in-command."

"Not sure if my brother and his friends are just that good or Koray's teammates weren't all they were cracked up to be but either way he wasn't doing to well according to the final score of the match."

"Let me guess, you want me to look into the matter and help lift him out of the gutters."

Felicia nodded as if the recipient of her call were there. "Yes, if you can. I know your taking care of family too."

"Very well, I'll talk to him." The voice shifted, Felicia knew what that meant.

"Ok, what do you want in exchange?" she said with exasperation.

"Me?" A chuckle came out. "I don't want anything dear Feli."

"Cut the carp!" She hissed, "I know you. Not even for your team, you would give something for free."

A sigh came out, Felicia knew her recipient had finally dropped the faҫade out of boredom,"Very well Feli, if you insist...tell me about your visiting brother. That's a cheap price, is it not?"

Felicia squinted her eyes, "How did you know I have a brother visiting. I just told you it was family coming over."

"I... had a lucky guess..."

Putting her suspicion aside, she fed her friend information of her brother that night.

 _Luuuke..._

 _Luuuke..._

With a start, Luke woke up, his body floating in the same stream he was in when he dreamed inside the train this morning. This time he tried moving again. When he did start moving, he began to try to swim to shore when he spotted a large, furry, black, dog-like creature staring at him. He recalled that the internet called them wolves and that very few survived the rising sea levels. It stared at him with piercing yellow eyes, following his movements as he was pulled downstream by the river.

Trying his best, he pushed the farther downstream towards the grand tree the river was leading him down to, trying to get to shore without being caught. The wolf quickened its pace, its gait befitting of a skilled hunter. He looked back, and saw it come at him with sharp fangs and claws.

 _Nen koro, nen koro, nen koro ni..._

 _Nen koro, nen koro, nen koro ni..._

Luke felt terror fill him as the swamp was filled with a woman's voice. It was calm yet sad but the message it was carrying filled him with dread for an unknown reason. His heart beat faster as he felt the wolf behind him panting heavily, hearing it snap its jaws close to his head trying to catch him.

 _Naku ko wa ooago tori ni kuru..._

 _Karada gotsugotsu, Kiba gizagiza..._

 _Naku ko wa ooago tori ni kuru..._

 _Naku ko wa dokoja ago tori ni kuru.._

Tears welled up in Luke's eyes as his dread increased. He could only stifle his screams when the wolf managed to get a grip on his leg. It tightened its vicing jaws on his leg before yanking him out of the water and banging his body onto a nearby rock on the shore. He tried to scream out from the intense pain he was in but his body wasn't working for him anymore, a numb sensation completely taking his body.

'It's just a dream...it' just a dream...' he kept thinking over and over. Even as he felt something wet dripping onto his neck. Even as his captor's claws came down on his chest. Even as yellow eyes stared into his soul.

Even as he saw quick jaws surround his neck before his eyes.

 _It... begins..._

Luke's eyes snapped open. He sat up quickly looking around to see that he was in the blank room Felicia had gave him. He reached for the back of his head and moved it over his neck before looking at it, being relieved when there wasn't anything on it.

"That balm worked wonders, but I think it might have given me a bad dream." he mumbled to himself.

As he had said, the balm helped his body feel as good as new during his sleep, he felt he could do some marathon running in his condition.

He looked at the door. 'Oh yeah, I have to meet up with the guys to discuss plans.'

With that he hopped out of bed, not noticing the abyssal blue stain on his pillow.

* * *

 **YEAH! TRIPLE WINNER OF SPLATFEST AND I'M FEELIN' SO PROUD!(I guess you could say I'M REALLY FEELING IT!*brick'd*)**

 **Anyways, things are beginning to heat up with Luke and company and he seems to be having something of a reoccurring dream. What could it all mean? I'll say that I cliffhanged this so that you guys can try and guess what direction this is going in. Plus a short chapter on occasion isn't a bad thing either.**

 **Also the voice in Luke's dream was singing a small tune. I'll give you an internet cookie if you can guess where it's from. Here's a hint: Dinosaurs.**


	8. Chapter 7: Whose Gonna Be Leader?

Chapter 7 :Whose Gonna Be Leader?

Monday

Luke was waiting at the door Catfish Cafe for his friends. They had promised to meet up to discuss how they were setting up their team here.

"Waiting for your team?"

He was jolted out of his thoughts by Aeolia who was leaning on a pillar with her arms folded, staring at him with piercing eyes as usual.

"W-wha-"Luke started before his unspoken question was answered.

"My teammates take the train as well from home. I'm spending time with family, so I'm always the first one of my team here."

"O-oh..." For moments, a uncomfortable silence hung in the air. She was still staring at him.

'M-maybe I should ask her to stop now...?' He thought to himself.

"Uh...C-could you...?" he began to sweat out of nerves. He stumbled and stuttered over his words with Aeolia cocking her head at him in curiosity.

'C'mon! Spit it out! It's not that difficult' he chided himself.

"C-c-could you stop looking at me, please?" he looked away as his face flushed with blue, blue eyes looking over at the yellow-eyed girl for reaction.

"Why?" she simply asked.

"Uh... c-cause it's kinda...uh um..." he began to rub his shoulder, "It's a little intimidating..." he looked away, closing his eyes in preparation for anything she did to him for making a request.

Silence, for a few moments she continued to look at him with her head held in its questioning position before returning it in its normal position.

'Should I ask again or-'

"Very well." she replied looking away from him and towards the station.

"H-huh?" Luke was surprised, both by the fact that she complied with no aggression towards him and by the nonchalance she showed period.

"I'll stop looking at you if that is what you wish." she explained.

His cheeks lit up at the awkward position he put himself in. "O-oh no! I didn't mean I didn't want you to look at me at all! I meant- that is to say... uh..."

She cast a sideways glance at him, looking at the pitiful state he was in. "If you are going to be in that state during our match, I think you will have difficulty with our match on Friday."

He bit his lower lip and lower his head in shame, she was right. How could he play against their team when he was locking his lips tightly in fear of what he might say that could potentially anger the leader of their team?

"Stop worrying about insulting me." she bluntly said.

He looked at her with surprise, not sure if he misheard her words. "What?"

She enunciated her syllables a bit more clearly for him. "Stop. Worrying. About. Insulting. Me."

'How does she know that I was-'

"I can tell by your expression that you are too worried. So I'm asking you to stop stressing yourself." Once again she was looking him in the eye, but hers had soften considerably.

Almost immediately, he started to calm down. His mental state even itself out and he started breathing normally when he realized he had his body tensed up like a brick.

"Ah, okay..."

"So... what are you doing today?" she said looking away from him again.

"Uh..." Should he tell her?

Noticing his uncomfort, she sighed and shook her head. "Nevermind, I apologize if that seemed too personal."

She got off of the the pillar she was on and walked away to the pair of twins with her yesterday who were beginning to approach the cafe.

/ \

"Greetings Aeolia." The steely blue-eyed twin greeted. "How are you?"

"Fine Concordia," she said. "And you?"

"Just Peachy!" Piped her exuberant sister, giving a thumbs up to her. "So what're the plans for today!"

"The plans are to practice up and play as usual. I'll discuss in detail when all of the team is here." She took a quick glanced at Luke who was eying the three girls curiously before turning back to her companions. "Let's go." They walked to the far end of the plaza to wait for the rest of their team.

"So that guy, the one you were just with, wasn't that the boy from yesterday evening?" the yellow-eyed twin asked with a smirk full of mischief.

Aeolia nodded in confirmation which she somewhat regretted.

"OOOOOooo..." Her smirk became a devilish grin. "I see love on the battlefield in your future~!" she purred teasingly. As stoic as she tried to be, Aeolia's disinterested expression was betrayed by the pink blush that managed to come to life.

"Enough Discordia." her sister commanded. "Aeolia has never shown amity to rivaling teams before, what makes you think this is different than any other time?"

Discordia rolled her eyes at her sister."Simple! She's blushing!"

It was true. Aeolia gained her reputation by essentially being callous towards others who weren't family or friends and being merciless to her opponents in the arena. However she finally managed to push away the blush building up on her cheeks returning her skin to it's normal color.

"I am not attracted to him in such a manner Discordia." she simply said.

Her friend simply turned it against her. "So in what way huh?"

"I do not know... but I do intend to find out." she said as the rest of her team showed up and they left to plan their next move of the day.

/ \

Deborah stepped out of the train with the rest of the group a couple of hours later, ready to go into the day with guns blazing. As luck would have it, Nova and Brodie had gotten on the same scheduled train as them despite being from different districts than her and Tytus so they were able to ride with them.

The ride was eventful to say the least. What with the two girls still being sour towards each other since yesterday and with Tytus on Deborah's side, Brodie was put through hell trying to keep them from tearing each other's tentacles off. Often he got sandwiched between the three squids' yelling, getting pushed and barely avoiding the girls' wrathful punches. Somewhere near the end they finally managed to calm down and, much to the confusion of the boys, started to converse in a more relaxed manner. In the end it still didn't save them all from the embarrassment of being stared down by the other passengers.

When they walked over to the cafe, the made out Luke already there with a dazed and tired look on his face.

"Yo! Luke!" Brodie called out, before Nova ran ahead of them, in a full sprint.

"Hmm?" he responded looking slowly in their direction. By the time Luke had shaken out of his stupor, Nova had tackled him to the ground with a hug.

"Nova..." he choked out with a frantic look on his face. "...crushing...lungs. Can't...breathe..." She just hugged him tighter.

Deborah just loomed above them with a smirk on her face and her arms folded.

"Honestly, I'm not sure if I should help you so we can start the meeting or let you just suffer here for getting us in that mess yesterday in the first place."

"Help... halp..." he wheezed, black dots were starting to form in his vision.

Brodie gave a disgruntled look at Deborah before bending down to the two friends.

"Uh, Nova..." Brodie tapped her shoulder, which finally gotten her attention. I think you're suffocating Luke, I'm pretty sure he's turning purple."

Nova look down at her unfortunate victim before realizing that she had clung to him like a boa constrictor would around its prey. She quickly released him so he could catch his breath. Deborah was snickering under her breath while Brodie helped Luke up.

"Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!" Nova said her hands on her mouth. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"I'm ok..." he said, his lungs trying to get oxygen back into his numb limbs.

"C'mon guuuyyyysss...!" Tytus whined, "I'm hungry! LET'S CHOW DOWN!"

"Fine, fine, stop your bitchin'." Deborah sighed and led her friend into the cafe.

"I don't like her one bit." Brodie said staring at the doorway where the twosome just were.

"Yeah, but we're stuck with her for the week." Nova reminded.

"What? Why?" Luke said his eyes laying on Nova with confusion.

"Simple. The challenge remember? If Deborah goes away, Tytus probably would too and I don't know about facing them with three members and a random person of unknown skill just going up against them." she answered

"Yeah, and if their reputation is anything to go by their gonna be really hard to beat." Brodie added, "We'll need all the help we can get."

The trio headed into the shop with uncertainty in their minds.

/ \

After the five had ordered their breakfast Deborah pulled their attention to her.

"Alright! Time for business!" she chimed happily, "First thing's first: We need a name, something that will turn heads... I was thinking something along the lines of the Speed Stingers."

"Nah! That sounds stupid." Tytus said, earning a venomous glare from Deborah, "How about THE DESTRUCTOOORRSSS!"

His shouting got the attention of some of the patrons, who looked over at their table in annoyance and intrigue, mostly annoyance. Eventually the other tables moved on with their business. That didn't save Tytus from Deborah though.

"Keep your voice down!" Deborah hissed at Tytus making him shrink back.

"Sorry..." he said quietly

'What do you know,' Luke thought in amusement. 'He CAN be quiet.'

"Oh! I got an name," the table's eyes turned to Brodie, "How about the Smokin' Salmons!"

Deborah laughed hard at that suggestion. "That's a stupid name! We're gonna be a team not the next dish of the day!"

Nova nodded her head in agreement. "As much as I hate to agree with her, she's right"

Brodie put his head on the table with a sad look on his face.

'Poor Brodie...' Luke thought to himself, looking at his friend. 'Can't really argue about the name though.'

"Alright Speed Stingers it is!" Deborah said. "Onto the next project-"

"Not so fast!" Nova cried out, with a slam of her fist on the table. "First of all, you're just gonna disregard Tytus's and Brodie's name suggestions?! Granted I don't like them as much as Speed Stingers but-"

"So you agree with me?" Deborah said, leaning back in her chair with her arms and legs crossed. Luke could tell she was trying to suppress a triumphant smirk.

"T-that's not the point!" Nova said quickly said, causing Deborah to raise an eyebrow at her. "You're asking for suggestions, so we shouldn't vote until their all on the table."

"Oh so you and Luke have suggestions for a team name?" Deborah asked as her eyes looked at Luke expectantly.

'Wait a second...' Luke was about raise an objection. He was going to just stay around and listen to them while they talk and argue with each other, until now he had not spoken and didn't plan to speak.

Nova, however seemed to have other plans.

"Of course we do!" Nova boasted a bit more. "In fact it's better than the name you came up with."

Luke couldn't help but groan and plaster his hands onto his face.

"Alright," She smiled arrogantly. "Let's hear it then!"

Nova went first, "How about Elegant Grace?" He liked that name, in fact it had a better ring to it than Speed Stingers to him. From what Luke had seen from the others, Brodie smile in approval while Tytus retched and clutched his stomach, presumably in an effort to show how much he didn't like the name.

'Guess he couldn't _stomach_ to hear that suggestion.' Luke smiled to himself.

"Not gonna lie, it's an interesting name." Luke could already tell where this was going just by the fact that even though Deborah was still smiling, her eyes showing hardly hidden irritation. "But I don't think it'll fit the team if you want my honest opinion."

With a roll of her eyes, Nova turned her head to Luke,"C'mon Luke! What's your idea? I bet it's better than all of ours combined."

'I guess I have no choice now...' feeling a bit more confident but mostly cornered by his team.

With a nervous little smile from Nova's belief, he started coming up with possible names in his head as quickly as he could until a name popped up in his head.

"Abyssal Spear."

The table was still silent. It stayed that way for awhile before somebody broke it.

"That's your suggestion?" Deborah said with a somewhat angry tone. "That's a really stupid name!" With that she stormed off, attracting nearby tables' attention as she did so.

She walked out of the shop to pout. Tytus looked at her then his future teammates.

"Uh... Be right back..." he said, clearly still baffled at his friend's behavior. As he walked out he shouted back to them, "I like the name by the way!" and he went to comfort his angry friend.

"Well that happened..." Brodie finally said after looking at the two outside, mostly it was Deborah letting out anger on her taller friend and him just calmly staying there, although looking from the inside, it seemed like they fought like an old married couple from here.

Nova looked at Luke with eyes full of curiosity. "Why'd you want to name the after an old artifact anyways?"

Surprised and confused he asked, "There's a real Abyssal Spear?"

She nodded, "Like I said it's a really old artifact. It's said to be about 23,000 years old, give or take some years of course. They said it was found it pierced in the side one of the ancient species that once ruled this world."

Brodie joined in, "So if you didn't know about it, why'd you want name the team after it?"

Luke looked down, shyness making him fidget when he noticed they both were hanging off his every word now.

"W-well, I suppose it was just luck and stuff." he replied.

"Psst." Brodie whispered to the two, getting their attention. "Don't look now, but I think those two are more than just friends~." He subtly pointed to the two arguing teammates to see Tytus hugging Deborah.

"C'mon Brodie it's not nice to make assumptions." Even as she said this she had a blush on her face, as if she witnessed something intimate between the two.

'These two' Luke sighed. 'Can't say their wrong though. Those two probably would make a nice couple.'

His thoughts dragged themselves into another territory entirely.

'I wonder though... why did that name suddenly pop into my head? And my dreams, they've been getting weird lately. Why do they feel so real? Why do I get a bad feeling something's happening to me? Whose voice-'

"Luke? You okay?"

Deborah snapped him out his thoughts. She was now standing on the opposite side of the table genuine concern was plastered on her face as well as the other three.

"Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

"You had this weird, blank look in your eyes and you wouldn't answer anybody." she replied

"Sorry..." he mumbled. "I must have zoned out."

"That's alright." Luke looked at her with surprise. Was she showing concern for him?

"Now that we know you're fine, we need to start on-"

"Wait a sec!" Tytus interrupted, "We're forgetting one thing!"

"And what would that be Tytus?" Deborah snarled at him.

"Whose gonna be leader?"

Everyone stared at him, shocked that he came up with a competent question. He had a good point. A good team needs a good leader and at this point they had nothing of the sort.

"He raises a good point." Nova settled on saying.

"Very well, I shall be leader." Deborah stated.

"And why is that?!" Nova spat at her.

"It's simple really, I'm a higher level than all us. In fact I'm poised to be level 4 soon." her haughtiness returned in full force. "It shows that I'm more than qualified to be the leader of the Abyssal Spear Splatoon."

Luke caught what she said at the end and tried to suppress a smile "We're using my name suggestion?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't get all giddy about it, it's just a name..."

""Level aside, how do we know your even leader material?" Nova pointed out, "First of all a leader needs skill, not just the luck to stumble where they are." Deborah glared at her with fury in her eyes. "They need to be strategic, aware of both the movements of their enemies and team, calm and collected" she had, at this point gotten out of her seat and a foot away from Deborah's face with equal yet calmer fury of her own. "More importantly... they need to listen to their team and show sportmanship."

The boys watched the two ready to go at each others throats once more, "I like a good fight more than anything but do you think we should split them up before we're banned from the cafe?" Tytus asked.

Deborah was trembling with rage, grinding her beak together she said in low voice"You're say all this bullcrap because...?"

"Ask yourself this: Are you honestly able to carry the responsibility as leader or are you going to use it as a front to gain popularity?"

Deborah balled and began to raise her fist. Brodie started to grab Nova to restrain her when Deborah let out a drawn out, frustrated sigh. She gave a smile that was treacherous to her feelings, frightening everyone in the table save Nova who continued to stare her down apprehensively.

"Very well then, how about a test." Her confident smirk returned once more. "Let's see.." She paced around with a finger on the bottom of her lips. "How should we go about this..."

"How about the Battle Dojo?" Nova suggested, "We can have a mini-tourney to show off our individual skills at the very least. If you succeed then you can be our leader, but until then I wouldn't even think about being put in charge."

Deborah laughed at her menacingly. "I like that idea!" she glowered at her current rival competitively. "I wouldn't have it any other way..."

'Well that could have gone a lot worse.' Luke said to himself.

/ \

At the entrance to the Battle Dojo, the team had gathered up with their weapons in tow.

"So here's the sitch," Deborah said with her back up against the walls of the dojo. "Me, Tytus, and Brodie are fine with our weapons but they won't let you two carry those Splattershot Jr.'s in so you'll have to deal with using a completely different weapons set then your used to."

'Well I've only played one Turf War with this thing so I don't think it will affect how I play too much...' Luke thought to himself.

"I've already checked with them. They said me and Luke can use the rental Splattershots." Nova added.

"I can tell you some of the different things to expect from the Splattershots that the Jr.'s don't have." Brodie told the two. "Splattershots are more balenced then the Jr.'s, so expect the damage output and range to be better. On the downside, it doesn't fire shots as often so you'll have to deal with that. You also have burst bombs as your sub which will explode on contact with anything, they're weaker than Splat Bombs though. Finally, the special, Bomb Rush, basically supercharges your ink sac so you'll be able to throw lots of ink bombs. Just be sure to pay attention or else." Brodie shuddered. "Anyways that's about it for that little tutorial any questions?"

"You can have your little questionnaire AFTER I go over the mechanics of the tournament. It's bad enough I had let you drone on and on about the Splattershots." Deborah stated with a little more than a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Gathering everyone's attention, she cleared her throat. "So before I was oh-so-rudely interrupted by Newb Corner here," This earned her a glare from Brodie, which she ignored. "The way the tournament will work is this: Luke and Nova will go up against each other while me and Tytus squared off." A groan escaped Tytus' throat earning him a swift kick to the gut, courtesy of Deborah.

"Why?!" he moaned out.

"No complaints to that set-up, right?" she looked at Tytus who was now bawling on the ground clutching his stomach, smiling at her victim's pain. "Right."

Luke and Brodie were sweating nervously at this point. Both girls exhibited crazy personalities but Nova was less likely to send her teammates sprawled on the floor. This one, one the other hand, Luke was convinced, was absolutely insane.

'Do NOT want to be him right now.' Luke said, unconsciously holding his own stomach.

"While were fighting, Brodie will just relax by himself."

Brodie let out a sigh. "Forever alone..."

Deborah tightened her fist, "Is that a complaint?" Swiftly he covered his stomach and shook his head so hard, it looked like he could have gotten really bad whiplash from it. "Good."

"After Nova's and Luke's fight, the winner will face Brodie and from there the winner will face me... or Tytus."

"I, think I'm good now..." Tytus weakly said before becoming a shade of green and running over to the railing to empty his breakfast from his stomach.

'How hard did she hit him?!' Luke asked to himself, his eyes wide at the sudden display of sickness.

"Chicks be crazy..." Brodie whispered to him. Still focused on his teammate, who was still hunched over the railing

"Whoops, I think I might've overdone it." she said smiling and walking into the dojo casually as she heard the unfortunate screams of a inkling girl being on the other end of Tytus' gastrointestinal evacuation.

/ \

In the boys locker rooms, the guys were getting the Battle Dojo gear on. Tytus was up against a wall, clutching his stomach and trying to balance himself. Both Brodie and Luke were wearing Studio Headphones, white tees and pink trainers.

"Dude, you gonna be alright?" Brodie asked genuinely worried for his teammate now.

Tytus gave him a nod and slowly sat up as straight as possible. Luke could see some pain still in his eyes though.

"Why you put up with her in the first place man? I've tried wrapping my head around it and being nice to her but she's on the...," Brodie paused to find words that wouldn't offend the mentioned inkling's friend. "...easily provoked side."

Nothing was said for and awkward three minutes before Brodie sighed in defeat. "Y'know what, nevermind..." he said, closing his locker with his Splattershot in hand. Brodie had left Luke and Tytus to themselves.

Luke silently put his Splattershot Jr. in the locker he was assigned. He was about to walk away when Tytus put a hand on his shoulder which caused him to flinch.

"Good Luck out there!" Tytus told him. "I doubt you guys could beat Deborah in a 1-on-1 match. She's pretty vicious on the battlefield by herself. But I'm curious about somethin'"

"And that would be...?" Luke asked.

"Why're you so quiet? Out of the two days I've known you, you don't talk a lot, so what's up?"

Luke honestly couldn't answer that question. He just always kept to himself. Even at home he really didn't have any friends as he was usually too shy and no one ever approached him. He talked a bit around adults, and, in comparison to his peers, was a large milestone in and of itself, but it left him awkward around people his age.

Still Tytus looked like he was ready to pry the answer from him so he did make an answer up.

"W-well... it's just the way I am...I guess..." Tytus gave him a look that said "Seriously?" but he simply let go with a sigh and ambled over to put on the gear he was given: Retro Specs, a Baby-Jelly Shirt and Blue Slip-Ons.

Luke went out to meet the others in the lobby. Nova was also wearing the same gear as him and Brodie.

"You look good in that getup Novs!" Brodie exclaimed looking her over.

"R-really?" a rose tint came over her cheeks. "Maybe I'll buy something like this when I'm able to browse through the shops." She clasped her hands together and swung herself side to side.

'Uh... what's going on?' Nova blushing at Brodie's statement confused him. As curious as he was, however he decided not to question it and chalked it up to 'the weirdness of other squids.

"Alright, I'm ready." Tytus said as he swung the locker room door open, he looked a lot better than he was a couple of minutes ago.

"You're lookin' better!" Brodie said with a grin. "Let's get ready to Rumble!"

"I hope you guys aren't planning to play without me~"

They saw Deborah coming out of the girl's locker room with a Bobble Hat, a Green Zip Hoodie, and a pair of Moto Boots.

She walk up to the group with a Splat Charger in hand.

"You gonna try the Splat Charger again Deb?" A shocked Tytus asked, "But you could-"

"Forfeit my spot for leader by doing this?" she finished for him. "I know. But I plan to take risks as well. I want to use this opportunity to get used to this godforsaken charger. Even if I don't become leader, I DO plan on giving you all a run for your money." She winked with a cocky grin on her face before becoming a bit more serious. "Nova and Luke will go to Urchin Underpass for their fight since they only have experience around that stage and I doubt their even familiar with it. Tytus, me and you got Blackbelly Skatepark.

"Alright, then good luck!" Brodie told them. "I'm gonna grab a quick drink while I wait."

With Brodie heading to a nearby vending machine, the team split up into their respective arenas.

* * *

 **So with that I end this Chapter, I apologize with how long this chapter took... I've been a bit busy with real life relations and with orientation for college, which will be starting for me in exactly a week from now. Once it starts, I'll be very busy since the work is going to be time consuming. (I only imagine since it's an art school...)**

 **Also I think it will be appropriate to mention two more things: This story will broken into parts/ arcs/acts/etc. the first part, I will admit is going to be the most tame out of all the parts I plan to write. Another thing is I am considering posting my concept art on tumblr for my characters(They intitially practice for blending and using color pencils). They are traditionally drawn so I would have to scan them onto my computer but other than that they're ready. If people are interested I'll put them up on a blog.**


	9. Chapter 8: Competition

Chapter 8: Competition

 _ **Thunderstruck by AC/DC**_

Luke had his rented Splattershot in hand as he stood within Urchin Underpass, on the ledge just before the entrance into the center of the battlefield. Both he and Nova were waiting for the signal to go.

"Go!" Judd cried out from his referee position. How he presided over each arena, Luke would never understand. A beam of light emanated from the center of the map.

Luke took off from his position, inking ahead and around himself to have more ground to work with. He stopped when he got there and looked around.

No Nova anywhere.

He started to ink the walls and ground before a orange colored burst bomb exploded in his face, which leaving the skin tingling from both the impact and ink contact. A swift turn of the head revealed a orange-dyed Nova charging from his left. He quickly threw a bomb that caught her in the leg. She began to fire at him and he returned it.

SPLAT!

A blue squid ghost floated from an orange puddle.

"Sorry Luke, gonna have to be better than that to catch me!" she laughed as balloons formed a ring around her.

Respawning in an alleyway, he snuck up toward the end and saw her bursting the last balloon. A beacon spawned in the alleyway he was in and he hide behind the wall before Nova had a chance to see him.

'What am I gonna do...' he asked himself, looking around frantically before setting his eyes on his gun. 'Wait a second, I've got the element of surprise on my side!'

Nova fired her gun up the wall and climbed up only to come face to face with Luke's Splattershot.

"Surprise!" He said with a grin and splatted her in record time.

Luke looked down at the wristwatch-like device on his wrist given to him just before the battle. It was now 07-04. He hoped he could keep the lead.

The explosion of ink that nearly came close to hitting him alerted him of Nova's presence. The balloons had appeared overhead just then. Right, take care of Nova first then the balloons. He dodged the next bomb by turning into a squid and zig-zagged around his opponent's shot before shooting her down.

He had a definitive lead, at least for now, and silently celebrated while shooting down the balloons. According to what the staff explained before they headed into the inkrails connected to Urchin Underpass, either 30 points or the most before time ran out would give that person a win.

He swiftly moved over to the next beacon, a trail of orange ink telling him that Nova had passed by and was waiting for him. He made is way up onto the opposite alleyway and went down it to have the advantage.

Only to see nothing but an orange ink trail ending in the center of the column of light. He Shot the trail of orange ink only to find that nothing was in there.

"Where did she-" He didn't finish his sentence, as he whipped his head behind him in realization, it was too late. His face was met by orange ink and his consciousness faded after the swift feeling of burning and bursting internally.

He respawned in the entrance of the opposite side of where the column of light was shining.

"Damn!" he muttered under his breath. He took up his weapon and set off for Nova.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

(this is a brief pause in the music)

He decided to creep up on her by going the same way she did. He was creeping towards the corner when he had a dull, throbbing ache in his head. He tried to ignore it but it had intensified into a sharper pain and he closed his right eye as he tried to fight it off. It took all his will and strength not to drop his gun and collapse onto the ground from the pain before it finally died into nothing.

It did surprise him, however, when he felt moisture from his nose and wiped it away with his hand only to see it was a deep blue ink when he looked at it.

'B-blood?!' his hand trembled for a bit as he looked at the the dark liquid that was dribbling down his finger.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The popping of balloons brought him back to reality. He wiped as much as he could off and opened fire on Nova who returned fire as she was expecting him. The balloons suddenly appeared above and both Luke and Nova were slightly distracted from their gunfight.

'Should I get Nova or the balloons first?' he asked himself while following her lead and shooting the balloons. 'If I get the balloons, I'll just get splatted,' he rationalized quickly splatting Nova before she realized what hit her. He blasted the balloons she didn't pop and quickly looked at his wrist device.

07-04 still and a minute and 30 seconds to go. An frustrated scream sounded and Luke knew it was time to plan his next moves quickly.

He dove into the ink behind him, shot were heard, being fired somewhere behind him as he jumped off the grate into the main area of the underpass. He looked behind himself quickly, she would be on him at any second. He paused his thoughts for a moment to look at the wall, he had just the idea.

It was not a moment too soon, Nova brandished her weapon and looked about, a bomb trail was made to try and get away from her, she'd fix him alright, there was no way she was planning on giving Luke another splat on her. She rushed onto the trail, splashing orange ink on Luke's trail.

His false trail that is.

As soon as she leaped off of the alley, she was quickly dispatched by Luke who hid by the corner. Okay phase one down, one more to go. The balloons were appearing on the other side, time to get the points. He moved over to the other side of the underpass to get the balloons.

The next set of balloons were to appear in the center of the arena.

"Good..." He thought to himself, this would proceed better than he thought. He ran to his next hiding spot.

Sure enough Nova came through with her shooter blazing. She shot everywhere on the ground, leaving no ground blue however she had made another fatal mistake.

Rushing near his hiding spot, Luke leapt at Nova, landing at the blue puddle that was once her. A grin spread across his face.

"I was worried, but I'm actually doing pretty good..." he said to himself, his breath now a bit shaky as he was truly getting excited. "Let's see if I can pull off the same trick again..." As the 1-minute mark sounded, a quick trap was being set.

/ \

Not this time, if she wanted to shut that arrogant she-squid, Deborah, up; she had to beat Luke. He had surprisingly played very well in comparison to her, despite being introduced to it at the same time as her. He took the lead charge in their first battle as well. Despite the other team being a big disappointment with a so-called "Pro" on their side, he was moving the fastest and seemed to avoid most of the trouble that most of his team was having.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**

"Must be the genes..." she mumbled as she stood on the grating. She landed with a grunt as she jumped, turning and splattering the wall with her ink. She was taking no chances, and with double points up for grabs she knew she needed to be careful here.

The balloons popped into existence. She looked around quickly, no movement from any of the blue ink. This is it! An opportunity!

She blasted the blue ink on the ground and the walls the balloons getting it all before focusing her attention on the balloo-

Wait a sec...

/ \

With his hiding spot covered in orange ink, Luke only had a couple of second before Nova noticed him stuck in the corner. Gritting his teeth in determination, he freed his arms to aim his Splattershot at her. She lowered her head and shooter level to his chest.

A few quick shots were fired and Luke watched the little orange squid ghost float away, moaning in pain.

"That was close..." he muttered to himself. He shot and claimed his 14 points. "Just 9 more to go!"

The next set of balloons where set to appear in the main passage to his left. He rushed to its location, spraying his ink around before climbing up the wall. He didn't have much time to look around. Immediately, Nova rush towards him with vigor, ink flying towards him. He managed to dodge the oncoming fire with a duck and followed it up with a roll to the side, a corner separating her from him.

"Sorry Luke but, I call dibs on being head honcho, can't let that bossy bass get that title after all!"

'Is she really that serious about that title?' he wondered to himself.

"Can't you guys just talk it out?" he asked her rather meekly. He tried to throw a bomb at her, it missed and hit the other wall instead.

"You see how she is, don't you?" she said, shooting more ink at the entrance. "She'd be a horrible leader! She doesn't have a kind bone in her body and I know she'll just use us for whatever she wants. If she gets we what she wants, she'll probably ditch us when we've stopped being useful!"

She jumped off the small rise of the alley entrance, rolling, stopping and tossing some bombs. Luke had to duck and dodge to avoid getting directly hit. Unfortunately, he couldn't avoid the splash and felt his left side tingle from the contact. Despite that, he kept firing, switching places with Nova. He backed up to the higher ground before firing blue ink onto the ground and swimming away.

Nova gave chase, by the time she came up the rise, there was blue ink surrounding the whole place. She blasted orange ink everywhere, backing up to a crate with a smile. From his hiding place, Luke looked at her with confusion plastered his face as she turned aim to the crate, breaking it and revealing a can with colorful splats and question marks on them. She collected it and opened the contents revealing an Echolocator.

"Gotcha." she grinned mischievously as an orange arrow circled his hiding spot. He quickly swam from the corner that he was hiding in and went behind the wall.

Quickly he inked up an escape route, but soon it left his attention as the balloons appeared. Nova threw a bomb behind the platform he was on before shooting orange ink to cut off his path. She was determined to make sure he score no more points.

He tossed a bomb onto the path and quickly swam through. She apparently had a similar agenda. She stumbled out of the orange ink with some of his blue ink splashed onto her. Now was his chance. He shot at her covering in her in his ink but not managing to splat her as she had dived back into her own ink, she sped toward the other pool of orange ink.

'She's not gonna make that. At least I'm not gonna let her...' he aimed at the pool of orange ink, coloring the ground blue and skewering Nova's landing.

Transforming back into her human form, she skidded for a moment before being stuck in ink up to her knees. She growled in frustration as she began her assault. With a dodge to his right, Luke swam up the wall hoping to get at her. The Echolocator's effects had worn off now and he was ready to end this. Once he was back in range she continued to shoot at him. She tossed a few bombs, with him moving around all but one hit him, and sped off to a safer location to fill her ink up a bit.

'Time to run.' The balloons had then disappeared and had moved to a new location. Luke jumped off the wall and scrambled up the alley. He looked down at his wrist device to notice that the next set of balloons would not be coming. There were only 15 seconds on the clock.

"This'll be over before I can get 30 points," he said to himself. "Time to play keep away..."

Nova had followed him up the slope and promptly splatted him while he was looking at his device. When he respawned, he looked down at his wrist and saw the score was now 18-01. Nova wasn't getting any more points for this match, but he knew that if she caught up with him again, she wouldn't be the only one with no points in this match.

He made his way to the center of the stage. He had to be cautious, he couldn't afford to slip up now so far in the game.

'All I have to go is get near one of the places where the spawn points would normally be and I'll win.' he waited for sound, anything that seemed off. When nothing in particular was heard, he snuck up to the alleyway wall. He was about to pull the trigger, when he felt a sense of dread and soft footsteps. Immediately, he made a puddle under the grating and sunk into it. Nova was right on top of him, scanning the area, this was it the last five seconds, all he had to do was wait and pray she didn't see him.

Fortunately for him, she leaped off and rushed to the center of the battlefield, not seeing his blue puddle.

The whistle sounded and Luke solidified back into a humanoid. Judd leaped from his perch above the arena, and with the two flags in his hand, pointed the blue flag at Luke.

Luke smiled over to Nova. His smile faded when he noticed her sulking over her loss. As they were walking back to the lobby, he noticed how quiet she was being. It had begun to make Luke anxiously look and until she finally spoke up.

"Be careful okay?"

The suddeness of what she said caught him off guard,"Pardon?"

"Be careful." she said looking him straight in the eye. "Since I'm not up against Brodie, you got one shot at this, and even if you do win against him you still got either Tytus or Deborah to worry about. They're all more experienced-"

"And that means they'll not going to go easy on me at all."

She nodded. "Yeah..." He groaned.

Nova was a fun person to be around and she seemed to be an ok loser. Brodie seemed like he would take losing ok but the other two...Luke shuddered at the thought of what their temper could bring.

Exiting out to the lobby, the two squids both saw the others waiting for them. Tytus was silent and looked dour.

'He must have lost.' Luke thought to himself.

"I take it you won your match then?" Nova asked Deborah, asking what Luke had automatically assumed.

A smug grin spread across Deborah's lips. "I wouldn't miss our match even if you payed me."

"About that..." Nova's hesitance made Deborah's grin turn into shocked unexpectance.

"Wait a second... don't tell me that-" Nova nodded and as quickly as she had stopped grinning, she had burst into a hysterical laughter. "For a second, Nova" she gasped out while holding her sides. "I thought you'd be able to back up all that talk!" Nova began to glare again. These two...

Nova gritted her beak as Deborah finished laughing and wiped the tears that stung at the corners of her eyes. "No matter, we'll see how Luke does against Brodie." She said as her gaze set intensely on Luke, making him shrink a bit. The way she looked at him was nothing short of crude amusement. At the same time, he could see a glint of something else in expression but before he could even ask Brodie took him by the arm and they took off to the next match.

* * *

 **Name: Nova Aljoy  
** **Eye color: Brown eyes  
** **Tentacle color: Yellow  
** **Skin Tone: A light rose  
Description: A cheerful bundle of joy to be around, Nova can bring a party back to life with her cheerful demeanor. With her good comes her bad however, her zestfulness can be a lot to handle for those who are shy. Without restraint she can be nosy and rather invasive of a person's personal space. She is very defensive when others people want to use her friends for their own ends and isn't afraid to fight for them if need be. Overall she is a kind and brave person who tries her best to put a smile of people's face.**

 **Hey all! School's out for me so expect me to be writing for your entertainment once more. I didn't want to be out for that long but school has been hard to keep up as is. So I had to drop some things for a time to make ends meet. Chapters will be still sporadic but they at least will be back to a more frequent amount of updates. I'd like to think a friend of mine for helping me plan the next 3 chapters that will happen a bit. There is a secondary reason this chapter took so long to put out.**

 **While writing I began to realize how long the chapter would run. This chapter would have been 3 times longer than it is now and would likely have to be split into a second part at the very least anyways so that I wouldn't strain my 15 page limit. It's been divided into 3rds now not only to keep the chapter from overtime but also to make reading more bearable. I'm sure reading about ink battles nonstop is bound to give someone a headache when it's crammed into one whole chapter. Not to worry about the length though, I still try to make things descriptive and dynamic so you don't get bored reading.**

 **Since this is at the end of the chappie, how about a bit of Q &A! I was asked by kaitoneko:**

 **"What exactly do you mean by "... By Joywave" is that you?"**

No it's not, I can't sing to save my life. Joywave is a band. I've mentioned this before but to reiterate I am doing an experimental thing on this fic, music I find and listen to in certain segments of this fic will be integrated to try and help set a tone for the reader's. It's merely a recommendation and you don't HAVE to listen to the music if you don't want but I feel it would help convey tone. I like to experiment to see what I can do with fanfiction since as the name states, it's is created by the fan of something, usually related to media. In this case, it's Splatoon. So this isn't me trying to make this as successful as possible (Although success does feel nice when things do good.) It's just me having fun and trying new things to help divert from the norm.

 **For TrickyJebus we have:**

 **"I was expecting some more BIOS about each of the inklings.**  
 **how come you only mentioned Luke's?"**

 **Just trying to spread them out. Although the bios give a sum of the characters. I rather you guys try to get an idea of what they are all like and try and get to know them a bit more or at least interpret how they are so far based on the information that is shared through actions and dialouge throughout the story. Don't worry I'll get through them. Besides you guys are gonna need them. :3**

 **"Hey can you also change the pov to the Death tides Squad in a future chapter?**  
 **I would like to see how they cope up with the group they just met."**

 **Trust me when I say that I have plans in store for Death's Tide. For right now, Luke's fledgling Splatoon are the stars of the show!**

 **Hopefully after these 3 chapters, things will pick up, but for now, Staaaaay Fresh!**


	10. Chapter 9: Round 2

**Letting guys know prior, Chapter 8 replaced that update I had made during school. So if you haven't read it, I'd encourage it**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 9: Round 2**_

Luke's color had changed. His tentacles had taken a purple hue. He decided to look around before the match began, his environment now a fairly-sized space within a warehouse.

"Go!"

The sound of Judd's voice put him to work. He shot his ink onto the ground and swam towards the pillar of light emanating from the center of the warehouse. When he had arrived at the center, he only had a few seconds before Brodie's yellow ink shot out from behind the corner of a corridor that was visible on they way to the beacon. Luke dove into his ink and hid opposite of where his opponent was. He stayed still and silent. Brodie shot the ground close to him, and he moved away from his spot to avoid being shot before returning fire.

Brodie was gone in a burst of purple. Luke completely resurfaced at the groans of being splatted were heard. He continued to spread ink around. The balloons had suddenly spawned and he took initiative to popping them all.

"AAAAHHHH!" Quickly turning to his right, he turned full body to see Brodie charging toward him with determination in his eyes. A quick return of fire from his own Splattershot caused Brodie to skid towards him. Brodie yelped in surprise as he slid into Luke's ink, tripping him and earning an easy splat for the violet stained boy.

'This is turning out easier than I originally thought' he had realized that even though Brodie was technically at higher level than him, he played rather awfully. It's was too easy.

The next beacon was to his right. He simply sprinted over.

A quick glance around.

Nobody around.

Luke started covering the ground purple.

Almost immediately the impact of foreign ink stung him. It hit him in his back and he stumbled. Looking back, he saw Brodie diving into a pool of his ink. Luke decided not to focus on him and worry about his opponent once he had the beacon secured.

'Gotta get to the beacon, no time to waste on Brodie.' He ran over to the beacon and tucked into himself, rolling rather awkwardly behind some boxes.

"Oww..." he muttered to himself. How did people do this in the movies? He looked from behind the cargo. Brodie was approaching him cautiously, but he wasn't doing so silently.

"Stupid shoes..." He heard him mutter. Luke carefully shifted into squid form and went around. Despite there not being any ink to swim in, he crept along the ground carefully. Brodie's back was fully exposed to him now and he started to shift back into inkling form.

"Luuuke, where arrrre you? You can run but you can't hide." Brodie was clearly trying to suppress a giggle at the cliché he spouted but could barely contain his amusement at it.

Luke squirmed away from Brodie's view before, being sure to move swiftly and silently. Almost too quickly, he grabbed his chest and took a gulp of air. His left fist was clenched onto his shirt while the other tightly grabbed the Splattershot; his chest began to ache a bit. After catching his breath, he moved to lift himself from the ground only to be splattered by Brodie.

"I'm really feeling this match." As if to taunt him, Brodie started to dancing, spinning and thrusting his hips in a little dance.

As Luke respawned nearby a large container he groaned in frustration. In hindsight, he probably should have dealt with Brodie before making his move but it was too late to think on that now, he made his way back to where the beacon was.

Sneaking behind the container, Luke was pleased to know that his targets were just around the corner. He was at a slight disadvantage at the moment. Brodie had taken the liberty to cover the ground around him in yellow ink and was now bursting balloons. He braced himself before putting his right foot into the yellow ink. This stung, but he continued to move through the discomfort it brought to try and use the element of surprise against his dark-skinned friend, who was moving towards the next beacon. He waited for Brodie to pass by and held tightly onto his Splattershot if the chance that Brodie would come over to him. Once he as certain Brodie was not showing signs of approaching, he broke away from his cover and proceeded to sneak closer to Brodie.

Brodie was standing there, surprisingly quiet. Luke closed the distance a bit and once he was in range opened fire. The first few shots had connected with their target before Brodie stumbled out of the way and begun to return fire. They were in range of each other trying not to get hit by the other's ink. He definitely had more competence than Luke gave him credit for. He was ready for him and, unlike Nova, wasn't too active on hunting him. He was far from an expert though and him deciding to got in for the kill made it more than obvious.

Brodie came towards to try and get an easier time hitting him. Keeping his eyes of Luke he continued to advance on him.

Until suddenly, he had stopped. The reason became clear when he looked down. His feet were stuck onto the ground and he was now stuck in a yellow puddle of ink. Luke shot towards the beacon, eager to . A bit panicked Brodie opened fire on his violet-hued opponent. Whether through some sort of instinct or through some form of blind luck, Luke deftly dodged the oncoming fire with an outstanding amount of finesse. He banked to the side, covering the ground as he went . Coming up to Brodie while being fired at he started to quicken his pace into a full sprint before diving down into a slide. He had gotten hit a few times while attempting to try that stunt. But those hits were grazes and simply brought a tingle to the spots that came in contact with his body. He pushed up, and spun around to splat Brodie. When a splatter and a moan was heard, Luke shot more ink ahead and moved towards the beacon.

 **/ \**

Back in the lobby of the Battle Dojo, The other three conversated while waiting for the duel to be over.

"So," Deborah began, attracting the two failed competitors' attention. She made a pointing gesture towards Nova, never even looking at her. "You threw that fight for him?"

Nova looked at her, surprised. Out of all the things that she could have said, why that?

"Of course not! Why would I even do that?"

"Friendship, uncertainty," Nova caught a small glare now aimed at her direction,"Pity?"

Nova puffed up and returned the glare at her accuser. "So you're thinking Luke didn't win our fight on equal terms? You're more or less saying he didn't earn that win."

Deborah shuffled into a more comfortable position a smirk on her face. "I have not said anything of the like, Nova dear." The "Nova dear" part earned her a snarl. She continued regardlessly. "I'm just looking at odds. He's barely been in any games, neither have you, but you at least seem like an eager participant. He's very withdrawn, almost as if he doesn't want to even play. Very squishy still and runty as well. With that said, he very barely seems to want to talk. So he's got that against him. Do these qualities seem leader like to you? I'd think not."

Nova eyes darkened with rage at every word. "So your saying he's not even fit to be even a part of the team then?" Tytus backed away from the two. He could sense a storm when it was brewing.

Deborah sniggered, "Well...you said it not me."

Nova had leaped on to Deborah. Getting a punch or two on Deborah before getting kicked off. She held her stomach gingerly. Her stomach seem against her and before she could even try to get back up, she was pinned down by Tytus. He dragged her to the nearby wall and kept her there. Deborah was massaging he jaw a bit. That smirk was now a scowl and she threw daggers from her eyes.

"Let's face it Nova, he's inept and pathethic! He's not made for turf wars, as a matter of fact. He probably should just stick to the sidelines and do something else. At most be a painter."

Nova head looked loosely upwards."Do you hear yourself talk sometimes?"

"Often."

"D-don't you think your being a bit too presumptuous though? You barely know him."

"Something tells me you barely do either."

An awkward silence hung in the air before Nova made use of her second wind start to ask more questions, this time she was more hushed and talked to Tytus.

"So I have to ask, why do you follow her around?"

No response.

"She doesn't seem to respect you much."

He turned his head away from her; a attempt to ignore her.

"And she even kicked you hard enough to vomit up today's breakfast,"

"So? I deserved it. I did a stupid thing again."

She was stunned at that answer but continued. "Your a living thing! A squid just like her! Why let her step over you like you don't matter!" She nearly screamed the last part but remembered Deborah was still around. No doubt she heard her still but despite that she wanted an answer that made actually sense to her.

After a while she fear she'd go unanswered again, but then he spoke.

"I made a promise."

Confusing. Why make a promise to a person like Deborah?

"What is that exactly?"

He frowned, "Not like I'd tell you that."

"But you did eventually tell me- nevermind. Guess I've prodded enough on the subject. I know one thing though, if Deborah thinks she's gonna manipulate Luke the way she wants, she'll have to go through me."

"Speaking of Luke, shouldn't he and Brodie be out by now?"

 **/ \**

Overtime. How did they manage to tie and go overtime? The both of them had 28 points and the last beacon shone at the center of the warehouse. Currently Brodie was hunting him down , hoping to turn the match in his favor.

Moving quietly, Luke snuck out from his hiding spot which was a stack of a few boxes. He moved to a slope, keeping an eye on his surroundings. Once behind the wall he perked his ears up. Nothing yet. He moved up the slope making his way to the upper part of southern half of the arena. The sound of the balloons appearing around the beacon made Luke move out of his hiding spot. In a blur of movements Luke was dashing towards the beacon with Broadie in a heated pursuit, tearing out from his hiding place behind a container.

Luke felt almost everything in slow motion. The skidding and pulling of his own weight acting on him, him rising his gun to pull the trigger and the stinging of enemy ink.

TWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Barely conscious from being nearly drown, Luke had won the match.

"Damnit! I thought I had you!" Brodie whined.

"Guess it's better luck next time, huh Brodie.?" Luke said once the ink finally started to dissipate. They began to walk back to the lobby.

"Dude, there's not really a next time since I doubt the next turf war I play in has stakes that high."

He reached behind his head to scratch it. "Uh, well you know..."

A bit of awkward silence passed before it was broken.

"What do you think our chances of beating Death's Tide are?" Luke inquired

Brodie's eyes widen with shock. "What are ya asking ME for?! If anything, I expect them to turn us into calamari with pasta on the side."

"Oh..." Luke drooped and started to walk slower. He did not want to be remembered as a part of the novice team that took on one of Inkopolis' titanic players.

Brodie put his hand on his shoulder, "H-hey... don't worry. I'm sure when we do lose, it won't be that bad."

Luke rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, "Thanks for the confidence boost..." he perked himself up when another question popped in his head. "So... what's your opinion on their leader."

Brodie visibly clammed up a bit before saying anything.

"Well I don't know. Based off her reputation, I bet you she's a she-devil ray. Someone like her has to have earned all thouse rumors...gives me the creeps thinking about what magical witchy powers she has."

Luke shook his head with a sigh. "You shouldn't follow what rumors you hear, I bet she's normal just like us...maybe even nice..." his thoughts wandered a bit and now he was only half listening.

"I guess. But dude, you gotta wonder why she got the rep in the first place. No one's 100 percent nice."

"Yeah..."

And they continued down the corridor, making their way to their friends.


	11. Chapter 10: Ocean's Sonata

_**Chapter 10: Ocean's Sonata**_

Walking into the small lobby, Luke and Brodie were greeted by Deborah's smug grin.

"Well?! Who won? C'mon and spit it out!"

"Stop barking Deborah, we hear you fine. Luke won." Brodie retorted, irate at her "enthusiasm".

"Oh dear! So Luke won that match huh?" She snarled in laughter. "Well then I know either way I won't be beaten so easily."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Brodie said, sounding rather offended

"Nothing, it's just a fact." she gave a haughty chuckle. "Anyway, you ready?"

"I-," before he could even get a word in, Deborah snatched his arm up in her right hand and dragged him down into the lobby.

"Good luck Luke! Me and Nova got your back!" Brodie shouted out.

Luke waved as he entered the corridors of the dojo once again.

As Luke left, Brodie looked at the wry expression that Nova was trying to hide behind a smile.

"What happened to you?" he asked, noticing her a bit hunched over, and stomach clasped in a hand. Nova gave an exasperated sigh at her teammates obliviousness.

She glanced over to Tytus, who was watching the two competitors go around the corner. She got a little closer to Brodie, "I tell you over there." She whispered and pointed to the shops down below.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Luke waited on the steel plating making a portion of the upper confines of the rig. He waited for the cue to start, anxiously awaiting for this competition to end. At the match's start he walked to edge of the upper portion of the rig.

He gulped nervously, the drop looked intimidating.

He looked around. The northern section of this platform looked like it was raised just as high, if not a bit higher. He walked over to peek at the two other drop offs that weren't so easy to assess from his starting location due to the obstructions that acted as walls, which Luke though must act as good cover for teams seeking cover from enemy ink.

The drops to his right and behind him were not much better, the one behind him being a longer drop then the others.

"This is going to be a long match…"

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

"So, you got dunked on for trying to stand up for us?" Brodie looked up to the ceiling in contemplation. "She's very tyrannical, isn't she? And the way Hot-Head over there seems to listen to her with no question is just something out of a millionaire's life"

Nova cocked a brow, "A millionaire's life?"

"Y'know, like when very rich or important people have bodyguards? They follow them around and make sure they're masters don't get harmed and all that?" Brodie took a quick look behind him to see what Tytus was doing, the hot-orange inkling was rubbing his nose and staring down the dojo's halls, waiting quietly. "Does that mean Deborah's loaded?"

"Doubt it. She may be snooty, but she just doesn't seem like the millionaire type." Nova said almost too quickly.

"Never know." Brodie chuckled, "Some things are not that easy to figure out after all."

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

"Come ouuuuuut, Luke." Deborah cooed. "I want to make sure we see eye to eye…."

Luke moved slowly, going quietly as possible. They were now at the center of the rig, with Deborah standing over it with a hawk-eyed gaze. He had to snatch his hand back as a trail of pink ink quickly covered where his hand was going be.

"Come out and stop being such a tuna fish, shark bait. Make it easier on the two of us and come out into the open." Luke didn't know what she took him for, but he was not coming out to get splatted. He knew he couldn't stay there forever though.

"Are you just going to stay put like a good boy then? Good."

Deborah had brought her weapon up to the balloons. Luke dared to take a peek at the charger-wielding girl perched ahead. Her aim was a bit shaky as she focused on the balloons.

Tightening his grip on the Splattershot, Luke rushed towards the sniper. Everything seem to slow as he gripped at a burst bomb and lobbed it towards the distracted inkling. With it connecting with her face, Luke pivoted and ran towards the balloons in a frenzied dash shooting Deborah down.

Confirming her termination, he focused on his targets above. Bursting the balloons above him, he panted heavily and went to spreading his ink down on the floor.

Luke was as terrified as he was thrilled. He sat in the cyan that he laid and hid in a corner to catch his breath. He felt himself shiver as his blood coursed through his body.

After some of the adrenaline had left Luke peaked through the corner, heart still beating hard in his chest.

Nothing.

He made a mad dash towards the southern side of the rig. He splattered cyan all over the place. Diving in and out to beat his competition to the punch, he left the mess behind him, letting his rush drive him to his destination. He leapt down the edge and landed on a descending elevator.

The beacon of light shone some feet away from his eyes. All had to do was wait. Somehow, he felt more tense waiting for something to happen. For _anything_ to happen. He continued to coat ink all over the area until it was sufficient for cover. Huddling onto the corner of the bridge leading towards the southern space of the rig, Luke gathered his befuddled thoughts,

'I've got the lead…somehow. That weapon is strong but it's not too quick. If I can reach her I can splat her before she can catch up.'

He looked around. Paranoia fueling his movements.

Quiet.

'It's 24-16 isn't it? And time's ticking. I haven't heard the 1-minute alarm bu-' As if on cue he heard the bellow of the alarm system. The ring of the alarm brought the balloons into sight.

Luke aimed upward only to feel the searing pain of foreign ink explode him. Deborah snide smirk could be felt even as he regenerated to the left most side of the rig.

Despite being on the stage for the duration, they barely exchanged blows. Luke was too skittish to stay out in the open while Deborah refused to remove herself from her perch. Had the timer not reminded them of their limits, they'd likely be locked in impasse.

It hadn't stayed that way. Now that they were pressed for time the both of them would be more eager to attack the other over popping balloons in an attempt to delay the win for either side.

Luke dragged himself out of the ink and hurried back to where Deborah was, determination on his face.

Deborah, who waited at the top of the elevators, was immediately on him. Aiming for his chest she released her hold on the trigger.

Luke barely dodged out of her way. The ink landing on the ground below him covering his legs in sticky rose ink. He began to freeze up.

Deborah haughtily snickered holding the trigger, one more hand movement he would be no threat.

Luke noticed the box behind him. It was his only shot. He shot the box open and rolled to his right getting splashed in the face by the onslaught of ink raining besides him. He continuously pushed himself through the mire that was Deborah's ink towards his prize.

This was it. Even if Luke could have rolled away the second shot, he was trapped in the sniper's complementing ink. Rolling was no longer an option.

"Poor, poor Luke…." She mocked as, she waited for her charger to fill with ink, "Well, any last words before I-?" Suddenly she noticed Luke's tentacles flare up with a fierce light. Before she could register what special he could have possibly opened, they both had super jumped at the other's previous location. Disoriented by the sudden switch, she looked up in time to get 3 burst bombs to the face.

5….

POP! POP!

4….

POP!

3…

A sigh of relief.

2…

He whispered amongst himself, the glee dancing in his eyes.

1...

"That was actually fun."

GAME!

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Walking out, the two said nothing. Despite that, Luke could tell by the furrowed brow, Deborah was upset at her loss. They were greeted by the sight of Brodie and Tytus both passed out on the ground hugging each other with Nova looking over them stifling a giggle About to take a picture with her phone.

"Do I dare ask what you're doing?" Deborah said flatly, letting out some irritation.

Nova tried to hold herself back before an explanation came.

"I was talking with Brodie before he and Tytus got into an argument. They decided to try and kill some time by doing laps around the plaza" She paused for momentarily to gather some air to laugh a bit. "Brodie passed out after 3 laps and Tytus passed out right behind him! Next thing I knew they were hugging it out on the floor! It's PERFECT!" She snapped some pictures of the two dozing off.

Deborah sighed with exasperation before Kicking Tytus awake. "Get up." She growled.

"Ok! Ok! I'm awake!" Tytus shrieked in alarm. "You didn't have to break my ribs in…." She kicked him again, which left Tytus wincing from the blow. "What was that one for?!" he whined.

"For being dumb enough to believe you had ribs." She then proceeded to kick Brodie awake.

"OW!" he cried. "Why are you kicking me!?"

This time Deborah didn't answer. She stormed off in the direction of the Catfish Café, muttering obscenities along the way.

"I take it that means you won. Congrats Luke!" Nova roughly hooked her around his neck. "Let's go celebrate!" Before Luke could say a word, Nova helped up Brodie, who was still reeling from his assault to his stomach, and jovially whisked them away from the heart of the city, leaving Tytus on his own.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Within the walls of the café, the quiet buzzing of conversations filled the room, the owners' words mingling with each other forming a blanket of liveliness.

Among them however was one girl sobbing quietly to herself, very few looked in her general direction, much less noticed her sniffling. Her strawberry cappuccino swirled around in its container as she gently prodded the straw around the open rim of the lid.

'How could he have won? He's too much of a coward to be able to have outsmarted me….' She pondered for a bit longer. As she was collected in her thought's, her other hand coiled by her tentacles, familiar fiery tendrils caught her eyes. She simply sighed through her nose and continued to sulk.

"Hey…. there's always next time, right?" Tytus soothed. "Besides maybe it'll be ok?"

All that replied was a huff and a sniffle.

Tytus sat down and scooted closer to his dearest friend, 'Let's… just stay here for a little while longer…'

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Nova lead the boys to an outlet a few streets away from the plaza. Her male entourage waited patiently, looking inside of the window. Brodie lowered onto the windowsill to rest his legs while Luke leaned on the windowsill, watching the passing sea life among the busy streets. Luke's cobalt eyes darted over the various tonics and head clothing in the shop. From what he could tell she was in a tentacle care shop. From what he could make out for the small sized store, he saw many different bottles of Tentacle Varnish and a few brands of diluted Tentacle Solvents.

"So, what do you think she's buying?"

Luke turned to his head to his chocolate friend.

"I dunno, girl stuff?" He said absentmindedly. "I see a lot of tentacle stuff in there, even mom doesn't have that much…"

Brodie let out a chuckle, "You seem interested in what's in there. Is there something you should be telling me?"

With a playful scoff, Luke managed a grin "Hah. Funny."

Some time passed, the two shuffled around to find a small amount of comfort in moving their limbs. Occasionally a yawn would echo between them. After 25 minutes of fidgeting, Brodie broke the silence.

"So, what do you plan to name the team?"

"What?" Luke said, aroused from his stupor.

The question was repeated, "What name are we coming up with for the Splatoon?"

Luke was at a loss, it had just dawned on him that they hadn't even chosen a name for their new team. He sat there for a bit to think, the occasional stink of car gas registered by his mind distracting him for a second or two.

"How about…" he thought a bit more, "How about the Ocean's Sonata?" When his teammate raised a brow, he hastily composed an explanation. "I mean it's just sounded like a pretty name. My mom is often listening to orchestral music and it seems like a good idea, and-"

"Calm down man!", Brodie put his hand up as if to defend himself from the onslaught of words. He chuckled warmly. "It's a cool name. I like it."

"Yeah, sounds totally fresh, Lu."

The two looked at the source of the voice. It seemed like Nova had finished her shopping as she now had a black plastic bag clutched in her hand. As she walked back to the square, the boys left from their seats.

Luke briefly looked at the bag that was ensnared by Nova's hand before looking the pink tentacled girl.

"What did you end up buying that took so long anyways?" He gestured to the aforementioned container." That bag isn't very big."

"It's tentacle dye." She answered with a grin. "I love this stuff. I just got a Limited Edition "Soul of the Sea" Aquamarine. I've been eyeing the website for years wanting to try out their dyes. Ever since I got my hair dyed pink a few years back, I've wanted more."

"So you're not a natural pink? Would have never guessed."

Nova gave a less-than-amused look to Brodie's comment. "Yeah, I am." Luke noticed her pick up in speed, leaving a larger gap between the her and the boys.

"I don't think she liked that." Luke commented. "Your flirting needs work." He sped up to catch up with Nova.

"I was NOT flirting." Brodie blushed as he went to catch up with his friends.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

In the Catfish Café, Tytus and Deborah were still chatting amongst themselves and the atmosphere had quieted down a bit since it was a bit later in the day, when the other three came in. Luke could only hear a snippet of their conversation

"…not sure even where they are. How're you-," Tytus had his dialogue cut short. Whether it was because they entered or because Deborah silenced him, Luke was not sure of.

"Hey guys, how are you?" Brodie greeted to the two inklings sitting down at the table joining them, he was greeted with nothing but a cold glare and silence.

"Eesh, tough crowd…" He sat down, followed by Nova and Luke. Nova scooted a bit closer to Luke realizing that Deborah was a little too close for comfort for her liking, Deborah's icy glare only became sharper when she noticed this.

A tense silence filled the air around them. No one bothered to break it, as if saying something would blow apart the little shop in a flurry of yelling.

"I came up with a name for our new Splatoon." Everyone seemed surprised that the one to break the silence was Luke. No one had said anything during his pause, so he went on. "W-would you all like to hear?" He was beginning to break into a nervous sweat.

"Sure." Brodie said reassuringly as he glanced over to Deborah who saw the expectation in his eyes.

"…"

Everyone tilted their head, in an effort to hear the belligerent inkling.

"…fine…" she growled behind gritted fangs. "…go on…"

Their eyes when back to Luke expectantly, listening to what he had to say.

With a clearing of his throat and tug at his shirt he started. "I thought a bit about this, and I was thinking of naming our Splatoon Ocean's Sonata. I think it'd be a nice name…what do you…what do you guys think?"

"I think it's great Luke!" Nova chimed. "You have my support!"

"Same here man." Brodie added. The three of them waited for Deborah and Tytus's reaction.

Deborah still had that venomous stare burrowed into the other three, but not soon after gave a sigh filled with resignation, with a hint of resentment.

"It's ok…" she said. Tytus immediately nodded his agreement. The whole team had agreed to it just like that.

"Then it's settled!" Nova stood up grabbing Luke suddenly and pulled him along with her. Before he had time to react, he had been dragged to the doorway. "Me and Luke'll get us registered!" she called back. "See you guys sooooooon!"

The duo left the café, the blue squid being dragged by his female friend leaving the others in silence.

After a while, the three remaining squids began to try and talk and wait for their new teammates to establish the official team.

"So…" Tytus began, not knowing how to start the conversation. "What did you guys do while we were here?"

"Uh…." Brodie paused, not sure how to continue the conversation now that the other two weren't there around him. Considering that they had beaten up Nova, he didn't want to say the wrong thing or he'd incite similar wrath.

"Excuse me," A voice spoke up, "Your taking new members still right?"

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Nova sped past the other inklings in the buzzing plaza, careful not to let her friend be swallowed up in the busy crowd.

Luke tried to keep up with the hyperactive inkling as best as he could, he fumbled and slipped as she brought him up the slope to the tower. Once they made it to the counter, Luke's chest heaving from the workout Nova gave him. Luke tiredly filled out the needed paperwork and was told to wait there. He leaned on the counter, exhausted.

'How much energy does this girl have?' he wondered to himself, 'The café's not that far and I'm already tired.'

"You really need to get out more Luke." Nova told him, breaking into his thoughts. "Turf Wars are more strenuous then that after all."

"I know, I know..." he tiredly waved at her, "I think the dash here along with the 3 nonstop matches before wore me out though, I'm a bit tired still."

"We might need to work on your endurance then." Nova offered. "How about some evening running, you and me?"

That caught him a bit off guard, "O-oh- uh sure."

"Great! If any of the other team needs it we can ask them too, but for now I think a bit of bonding time is necessary." She said cheerfully, not noticing Luke's blush.

Before another word could be spoken, Judd leapt up onto what Luke could only assume was a stool and handed Luke 6 plastic badges that seemed to shimmer under the cool lights of the lobby.

"Thanks Judd!" The said in unison as they walked out of the lobby.

Luke and a small, content smile on his face. He held a card in the air. It had their team name embellished with an ornate design of the Great Zapfish on it. The center read:

 _ **Ocean's Sonata.**_

'Mom would have loved that our team is named this….' His expression turned somber. 'I think I'll ask Feli to take me home next week…'

"Hey, you alright?"

"Hmm?" Luke was snapped out of his sadness by Nova's voice. "I'm fine."

"You aren't." she insisted.

"H-huh?"

"You seem sad, what's wrong?" she pressed.

"It's not much of anything." He was keeping to his story no matter what.

She kept her eye on him till they reached the doors of the café again. "Alright then." She had given in to his secrecy at last. "But please tell me if it's something really bothering you."

He looked at her for a moment before nodding, he smiled inwardly at her concern. It was nice to feel someone else care for him in the city.

As the two went inside, they noticed quite a few things. The dying noise in the café, the cluttered tables that had yet to be cleaned, but the main thing that caught their eye that here was a rather tall and handsome turquoise-tentacled inkling sitting at their team's table.

"Who is this?" Nova asked as she closed the distance to the others at the table. Luke followed her staring at the new inkling studiously.

"Please to meet you." The inkling started in a rather silvery tone. "Name's Cass." He held a hand out which Nova hesitantly took. "You're friend here said that they had one position open, so she gave me the spot on the team."

She took a glance at Deborah before looking at the eager young man. It was hidden, but she could see it; the ghost of a smirk aimed at her. Instead of glowering down her adverse rival, she focused her attention on the lithe newcomer in front of her.

"It'll be nice working with you Cass." It had seemed everyone but Cass could hear a strain in Nova's voice. Nonetheless, she smiled at him.

"Well I guess we have a full team then, we'll have to register you at the tower Cass." Luke nodded, silently handed them each a card.

"Well Now we're a full-fledged team! Let's go kick ass and take names!" Tytus rocketed off towards the tower full speed, despite his large carrying case weighing his shoulders down.

"Moron…" Deborah grumbled under her breath. She grasped at Cass's arm and led him along to the tower, "Let's go, shall we Cass?" she sounded unnaturally sweet when she spoke his name to the point Nova had visibly made gagging gestures. Once the two were close to the door, the remaining three began to walk.

"What a loach…" Nova sneered. "I'm certain she recruited the guy for some reason other than him looking like a good teammate…"

"H-hey, Nova…that's not very nice…" Luke began to be concerned about his friend's change in attitude.

"Yeah, but then again Deborah hasn't exactly been nice to us either." Brodie pointed out. "She looks like she's trying to get on the guy's good side."

"Mhmm…" Luke wanted to say that maybe Deborah is nicer than she seemed, but didn't if only because he wasn't sure if the two he was with now would react badly to it.

'I don't exactly have evidence that she's nice either…' He thought to himself, he knew it was likely wishful thinking for things not to go wrong.

When the trio got into the tower they saw the other half of their team waiting for them.

"What took you guys so long?! We had to wait for you guys forever!" Tytus was back to his energetic shouting.

"At any rate." Deborah interjected. "Let's discuss who's going in for Turf today."

"Oh yeah. How does a Splatoon team work in this case?" Luke was pretty sure only 4 members were allowed, so what would the others be doing.

"Simple, Luke." The orange eyed girl, leaned forward. "While you and the rest of the team are out there turfing. Me and Cass will hang out and get to know each other."

"Why you of all people?" Nova started to show her agitation.

"Because Nova, you all need the experience last time I check. Our "fearless" leader is only at level 2 with you, Brodie and Tytus at levels 2, 3, 3 respectively." She pointed at each of them.

Brodie turned to Cass. "So, wait what level are you Cass?"

"I'm level 6." Brodie, Luke and Nova looked a bit surprised.

"Oh…"

Deborah gave a smirk to the rest. "Now you guys get to work. Me and Cass are going to go shopping." Without another word, they had left the lobby. Nova let out a sigh.

"Let's get to work guys…"

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

As Luke left the locker room with Tytus and Brodie, he felt a twinge of pain shoot up his neck. He swatted as if something had bit him and scratched at it viciously.

"Hey, are you alright?" He turned to see brodie eyeing him curiously.

"Yeah…I think I'm just a bit nervous." They sat down in a bench and waited for Nova. Tytus had sat a bit farther down from them. Luke leaned over to Brodie, his voice whispering into his ear. "More importantly, you noticed how Tytus is when Deborah isn't around? He's completely quiet."

"Yeah..." Brodie whispered back, taking a look at him. Even though Tytus was staring down the exit, the forlorn look on his face was hard to miss. He let out a sigh, seeming oblivious to their stares.

"Think he's worried about Deborah?" Luke suggested.

Brodie responded with a shrug. "Maybe, heck the guy might even have a crush on her."

Luke widen his eyes in shock, "You think? They don't look like they'd be together like that."

Brodie looked at him, "Hey, your guess is good as mine…" Brodie flopped back onto the bench and closed his eyes, exasperated. "What's taking Nova soooooo loooong?"

"She's right here."

Brodie jumped up in shock, clutching his chest. Nova had seemingly teleported in front of him.

"Oh what the hell! You nearly gave me a heart attack you know that?!"

Nova raised her brow at him "If I nearly gave you a heart attack then you REALLY should check your heart. I don't think turf wars are from you." She let out a giggle, Luke couldn't help but chuckle himself at Brodie's reaction.

The sat down on the same side of the room and waited. It wasn't long before another team had came in. A level 4 girl with a splat roller hauled over their back, a level 3 guy with another splat roller, a level 6 boy with a weapon that could only constitute as a cleaning bottle connected to a hollowed mop handle, and another level 6 boy with a splat charger.

The two teams faced off before walking down the tunneling hallways.

Even though it was his second time in these tunnels, Luke couldn't help but feel the cold emptiness that surrounded them. Even if he didn't know how to feel about the dead halls, he was glad that the others were at least close by.

Finally, they had reached the end of the tunnel. Luke could see everyone else tense their arms and grip at their weapons. He replicated their actions, he wobbled a bit come the rising of the platform. As the rose up into the light, Luke blinked at the intruding rays opening them to see the stage they were meant to play in.

His stomach dropped seeing the slops and height of the stage. Arowana Mall. It was rather inviting looking if Luke was honest about it. But those drops that made up the stage seemed worrisome.

"Ready…" He heard the faint meows of Judd. He gulped, shifting himself into a position to run.

"GO!"

Dashing to the right, Luke hugged the wall, not looking at how far he was from the ground. Slipping away from the edge into an alley, his heart pounding from being near the drop. Nova sped past him with no signs of slowing down. She had left mint ink in her wake. He lagged behind, not wanting to get flanked easy on a new map.

Turning the corner, he slid down the slope of ink and took a look around. The middle of the stage was clear of enemy fire. The reason had shown itself immediately. Tytus and Brodie were keeping the other team at bay by acting as distractions. Nova had left her own trail of ink amongst the center. He followed, not wanting to stumble down onto the lower areas of turf.

Rounding the corner, he faced down the handle of a mop. Luke only had seconds before a line of ink pierced the air and splatted onto the pavement. He fell on his back to the center platform. Even with the coat of ink on the floor and the lack of bones, the signals reaching his brain communicated the pain of the collision. Scrambling onto his back he held his weapon in his hand, and sat. He could see the laser of the charger's sight, it was only a matter of time.

Time had stopped, his body moved separate from his mind, and instinctively his sight sharpened. The charger had rounded the corner, weapon fully charged, prepared to confirm his splat. Like flowing water, Luke dove out of the way smoothly and changed to squid form. The charger panicked suddenly, not expecting his opponent to move as quickly as he did in a counter attack, the charger edged closer to get a good shot.

The die was cast, and the charger was a turquoise splatter. Luke clambered up to the opposition's corridor. The boy's heart throbbed with the thrill of playing the game. Enthralled by fervor, he scrambled though and slipped quietly within their opponent defenses, inking some of the ground. Nova and Tytus were hiding behind cover to shelter themselves from the long-ranged shots of the Splat charger with Tytus fending off the girl roller. Brodie was nowhere to be seen, likely dispatched of and returned to spawn.

KER-PLUNK!

Luke entered the nest of the charger as quietly as he could, staying still to make sure the enemy charger wasn't aware he was being sneaked up on until Luke was upon him.

A wail of pain was faintly heard on this side of the arena. The two looked up to see him standing above. Throwing bomb down to scatter their harassers, Nova smiled and waved at him. Her eyes briefly lit up in alarm before Luke saw nothing but black stretched out.

The mop handled sniper had gotten him in the back. Somehow, he knew a satisfied grin was on his splatter's face even if he couldn't see it.

As the respawn point, Luke rose from the depths of the ink as his self molded into the ink. Inhaling the air into his reformed lungs, he stumbled from the spawn point transforming into a squid this time as he fell to soften the blow of the impact. Once he had recovered he swam off.

He was soon met by the male roller in the corridors above the main arena. Before he felt the weight of the weapon he shifted onto his feet to splat them before he was aware he was there. He kept on his feet, if that inkling had reached their side then they had made a path through. Luke quelled his thoughts. Thinking wouldn't do much right now. He need only to act. Act and claim the turf from the other team.

' Run, splat, splat, run, run, run, swim, swim...'

He kept running this track in his mind. The thoughts drummed into his head as he weaved through charged shots that began to waver when he neared.

"Keep going," he uttered to himself, the mantra embedded into his brain, the signals of each word thought of had caused the firing of thought in his brain even when the darkness that came with being splatted shrouded his sight.

By the time the clock had reached the one minute mark the opponent had over powered them. Luke didn't know what to do but to keep going. Rising from the spawn point for the 6th time, Luke had clawed forth from the spawn gritting his teeth before and slippery hand grabbed his legs.

He swiftly looked down, his body tensing at the moment of slipping away.

"Whoa! Calm down Luke!" Nova cried out forming from the roiling ink. "You've been shooting at them wildly since near the start."

Almost as if he hadn't changed, he untensed a bit and bashfully rubbed his head.

"S-sorry..." he stuttered. He had no idea what came over him. Was he going crazy? No, he couldn't be… why would he? A small pain seizing his head told him to not worry about it now.

Nova had already left her friend to himself as she routed the enemy players as they approached spawn.

With a deep breath he went to his right. The avenue's dizzying height from the main part of the map startled him but he edged closely to the end. His friends were fighting a losing battle now. The chargers had pinned the others down. Tytus was the only one who was bold enough to move from his position. Luke had to do something.

The rest of Ocean's Sonata were backed up into a corner

"Come and get some!" Tytus sneered, just barely getting away from the Splat Charger's aim.

"Wow, you can't aim for jack, buddy!"

Brodie was hiding from the other charger's range with Nova, who was watching their backs for the rollers. "At this rate, we'll lose the match!" Brodie whispered to her.

"Where is Luke?" Nova questioned. "He was supposed to be down here fighting with us!"

"We can't worry about that now! The clock's almost up!" Brodie sternly looked at her. "Cover me."

Without so much as a confirmation, Brodie leapt from cover. He tossed his burst bombs at the sniper. The both of them were drenched in enemy ink but only one remained standing. Nova wore a face of shock as the charger leapt down from where he was perched. She tripped, sitting down on the ground, frozen there.

2…

His finger pulled on the trigger, a grin on his otherwise cold face.

1…

Nova saw nothing and could hear nothing.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Luke looked at the cat that was calculating who had won, with a grin of satisfaction on his face.

The enemy team had won.

But a least they didn't win by that much.

The score was 42.52 to 46.48.

Nova came to and nearly screamed in shock "How did we-?!"

"The other team's side was really vulnerable." Luke told her, grinning ear to ear. The group started to descend into the tunnels below and began walking away from the mall. "The snipers were so busy with you guys the only ones there were the rollers and even they were too focused on claiming the other side that they didn't notice me until it was too late."

"Well that explains where you went then!" Brodie chuckled, slapping the frail inkling boy on the back. "No wonder we didn't see there in the end, you busy saving our hides."

"How can you guys be so happy about this?" Tytus asked his teammates incredulously. He had stopped walking with them altogether and the three started to look at him, the atmosphere changing around them "WE! LOST!"

"Winning isn't everything Tytus, we'll get them next time." Nova soothed.

"There won't be a "Next time" if Death's Tide wins." Tytus shot back. Everyone went silent before Luke dared to end the quiet.

"What do you mean?" he asked before Tytus shot a look at him, huffing violently as if ready to blow up again any minute.

"Haven't you heard the rumors?" He continued at Luke's puzzled look. "Turf war teams that fight Death's Tide for keeps are cursed if they lose."

Luke didn't need to look at the other two to notice how tense they were.

"I've never heard that…" Luke said, he felt like his hearts could be crushed by the immense pressure building up in them.

"Didn't either…Deborah told me." Tytus looked away. "Whatever the stakes were... they got raised, big time."


End file.
